Antonelli and Russell to battle for top spot at Mercedes in 2026?

That is the claim of former Formula 1 driver and seven-time race winner Juan Pablo Montoya, who has been impressed by Antonelli's performance over the course of the São Paulo Grand Prix weekend, which ran under the Sprint format, which meant only one practice session was available for drivers to get up to speed.

But the Italian rookie who had shown promise at the start of his career in the top flight and then suffered from a setback has been showing improvement recently with two strong weekends in Mexico and São Paulo, especially in the latter, where he bettered Russell in all sessions: Sprint Qualifying, Sprint, Qualifying, and the Grand Prix.

What makes that more impressive is that the 19-year-old F1 driver did all that on an old-school track that punishes the slightest of errors while also having one practice to prepare, not to mention the tricky conditions in which the Sprint took place, as it had rained before it, which meant the track was drying with wet patches here and there, which caught out much more experienced drivers, aka, McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

But Antonelli kept his nose clean and then went on to deliver a solid performance while defending from four-time F1 Champion Max Verstappen, who was charging through the field, and managed to stay ahead, the Dutchman running out of laps to take second place from the Mercedes driver.

Montoya believes Antonelli's form will challenge Russell's position within the team; he said: "I think Mercedes want a battle between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell for top spot next season.

"Antonelli showed in Brazil what Toto Wolff has been telling us all year. Antonelli outperformed Russell all weekend, maybe not by much, but whether you like it or not, he finished ahead of him.

"It will be interesting to see how Russell reacts to it, because it's the first time in a while that Russell has been beaten by a teammate," the Columbian concluded.

Antonelli took his first podium in Canada and followed that up with another in São Paulo. He was on pole for the Miami Grand Prix Sprint and qualified on the front row for a Grand Prix twice so far. He is seventh in the 2025 F1 Drivers Championship. (Quotes from PokerStrategy)