Russell: Win every race, that’s the game plan

George Russell says his only target now is to win every remaining race after delivering what he described as his most dominant Formula 1 weekend in Baku.

Russell completed a ’grand slam’ weekend and cut Kimi Antonelli’s championship lead by 15 points, even though Max Verstappen finished only a tenth behind him.

"Win every race," the Briton said afterwards when asked what his strategy will now be.

"I mean, that’s the game plan. My teammate’s had an incredible season. He’s been pretty flawless throughout, but now we’re getting to crunch time."

Russell said his recent form has restored his belief that he can fight at the front every weekend.

"I never lost that faith in myself," he explained. "It wasn’t like I just suddenly forgot how to drive, and I knew I would be able to find it again."

"I feel I can fight for victory week-in, week-out now."

He also believes the pressure is now more heavily on Antonelli. "There’s much less pressure on me than there is him," said Russell.

"I didn’t really consider myself in this fight for a number of races, purely because my performance wasn’t strong enough. Now I feel like if the season were to have started today, or since the summer break, I feel very much I would have been able to fight."

"I’m chasing to win every race, and what will be, will be."

Antonelli, meanwhile, admitted he deliberately took almost no risks after his qualifying mistake left him deep in the field.

"Today I drove a bit like my grandmother," the Italian smiled.

"Simply in damage control mode. I didn’t take any risks. Before attempting any manoeuvre, I made sure that I could actually pull it off."

The championship leader said the weekend exposed a rare weakness in his own mindset.

"I think this weekend taught me a lot," he said.

"Probably also with the mindset I was not in the best place. I’ll just make sure that next weekend we get back at the right level."

Antonelli eventually recovered to P5.

"I simply capitalised on the mistakes of others and worked my way forward," he said.

"I’ll make sure I restore the pecking order next week."

Verstappen, meanwhile, believes Mercedes could become even harder to beat when its next upgrade arrives in Sepang.

"If Mercedes is bringing an upgrade and it works, then they take a step ahead, and that’s not what you want," said the Red Bull driver.

"It will make it even more difficult to win. But we’ll try every single weekend and, of course, if the opportunity is there, we go for it."