Damon Hill has drawn parallels with his title-winning 1996 Formula 1 season to address the intra-team Mercedes rivalry between Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.
With Mercedes’ early advantage in F1’s latest era, the duo of Russell and Antonelli have been pitted against each other for their maiden F1 titles this season.
The 19-year-old, in only his sophomore year in the sport, currently holds a hefty advantage over his more experienced rival, with a 59-point advantage and momentum on his side.
For Russell, a few subpar weekends and reliability woes have impeded his progress.
Hill reckons there are a lot of similarities between what Russell is facing this season and what Hill himself had to overcome to seal his 1996 F1 title against Williams team-mate Jacques Villeneuve.
Like Antonelli, the Canadian racing driver had age on his side – a young pretender who had had a fledgling junior career to carry momentum into F1.
But Hill is of the opinion that Russell can still claw his way back into the fight, in the second half of 2026.
“I think with George… For me, when Jacques Villeneuve arrived at Williams, it was a little bit of that,” he explained to F1.com.
“He was 10 years younger than me, but he’d also just come off the back of a championship season in IndyCar, and he’d achieved a lot of success in another senior formula elsewhere.
“So, it’s slightly different, and the outcome of that was I beat Jacques, so George has got to do that somehow!”
Hill details “astonishing” transformation
Antonelli’s rookie season, last year, was a trial by fire in many respects. Despite a stellar junior career that saw him jump from FRECA to F2, and from F2 to F1 in a span of two seasons, the Italian was not competitive right off the bat, betraying the expectations his fast-tracked promotion had garnered.
By the time the season had ended, Antonelli was more than 150 points adrift of Russell in seventh.
Hill examined the 19-year-old’s transformation, calling it “astonishing” and a product of the winter break working right for the Mercedes driver.
“Kimi’s had a season in F1, and over the winter there’s a kind of gestation period where all the things you’ve learned in the year sink in, and you suddenly come out fighting,” Hill added.
“It’s been astonishing. He clearly has got an incredible talent and maturity for a 19-year-old.”
With F1 resuming at the Dutch GP in three weeks’ time, Russell needs to channel his inner Damon Hill sooner rather than later if he wants to have a fighting chance against his team-mate for the ultimate prize in F1 this season.
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