Mumbai: When George Russell was in his rookie year in Formula 1 back in 2019, Kimi Antonelli had just turned a teenager, though one who had already begun to show promise as he climbed through the karting ranks. Fast forward to 2026 and it’s a fascinating story unfolding on the track, with the two race drivers central to the plot. It’s not Russell, the experienced dog, leading the F1 drivers’ championship but his Mercedes teammate Antonelli, still a teenager, who sits on top with a 40-point lead going into Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Watching a young hotshot grab the spotlight you had very likely imagined to be your own by now, particularly in a sport as unique as F1, can be an ego-bruising experience. If that is the case with Russell, then it’s a feeling the Briton’s compatriot and former F1 champion Damon Hill can easily relate to. “As a driver, if you spend a number of years with a team, there’s two ways to look at it. Either you become part of the furniture, or you feel at home,” Hill, who became champion with Williams 30 years ago, told a select group of reporters during a call on Friday. “When a driver is at a team, they can’t consider that they are the primary concern of that team. They will get a new driver in and if that driver delivers better for them, then allegiance and the interest goes towards the other driver. “So the problem with being a racing driver in our sport is that you’re not really part of the team. For the time you’re there, you’re part of the team, but you still have to prove yourself against the other guy. So you’re in a constant battle to establish your position.” Unless, as Hill explained, you have a situation like Max Verstappen with Red Bull Racing. “(Max) is able to retain that preeminence in the team to the point where the team then becomes about him. That’s much, much more difficult in a team like Mercedes. And it is difficult when you’ve got a guy popping in like I had with David Coultard actually during my season,” Hill recalled. “I was fighting Michael Schumacher for the championship in ’94, and I’d have David Coultard dropping in and out to come and take points away from me or Nigel Mansell. “And I kept on saying to the team, ‘how am I supposed to beat that? I’m the guy who’s staying here for the rest of the season to fight Michael Schumacher for a championship, and you keep throwing in wild cards like Nigel Mansell and David Coultard, who also have to race, but they’re only there for a short time’. “It doesn’t seem to be strategically a good move to me, but it is very unsettling.” The only way to deal with it? Prove you are the better driver, Hill said. “If that person is getting attention because they’re doing great things and they’re delivering results, then the only answer to that is, well, you just have to do better than them. “They know the deal, but it can feel like you’ve been betrayed a little bit if they’ve employed someone else who’s better,” the 65-year-old chuckled. In what is shaping up to be a battle for the title involving two drivers from the same team for the second straight season, Hill tipped the 19-year-old Italian to come out on top. “I think the favourite is Kimi because he’s got the equipment. Mercedes have been the most consistent and he’s got a points advantage. And I think that he’s still on a learning curve. So George has got a mountain to climb to rein him in. I’m not saying he can’t do it, but I think from what I’ve seen, this guy is something else. So we’ll see,” said Hill. (Fans can watch the British GP exclusively on FanCode)
