Coulthard: Russell Must Fight Back

0:00On March 28th, former Formula 1 driver David Coolthard is telling George Russell to step up his game inside Mercedes. This comes right after Russell's teammate, Kimi Antonelli, grab his first ever Grand Prix win at the Chinese race. Russell still leaves the driver's championship with 51 points, but Antonelli sits just four points back in second place. Mercedes kicked off the season strong, making Russell the early favorite for the title. That change when Antonelli took pole in one in China, shaking things up. Now heading into the Japanese Grand Prix, Antonelli snagged pole position again, with Russell lining up right beside him in second. Coolthard made his point clear in a recent podcast, saying Antonelli's success is getting in the way of Russell's championship push. Fans and experts see this as a real rivalry, brewing inside the team, putting pressure on the British driver to fight back harder. In qualifying at Suzuki, Russell dealt with some weird handling issues after a setup tweet to his car. He struggled with oversteer, especially at the rear, through the tight S's section, dropping him to seventh or eighth early on before Big Frontwing.

1:06Adjustments pulled him up. The team is digging into what went wrong, maybe a mechanical glitch, but Russell sounds optimistic about starting second for tomorrow's long race. With Antonelli breathing down his neck, this battle at Mercedes is just heating up. That wraps F1 News today, brought to you with AI. I'm Corey, with the story.