Title Antonelli's to lose, says team-mate Russell

George Russell won the sprint race in Canada but then retired from the grand prix the following day

George Russell says this year's world championship is Kimi Antonelli's "to lose" after the Briton's retirement from the last race in Canada.

Russell heads into this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix with a 43-point deficit to his Mercedes team-mate after the Briton's engine failed while leading in Montreal.

Monaco is the sixth round of what is now a 22-race season.

"If I look at it from my competitor's position, you're kind of in a position now that you've got such a buffer, it feels like you can only keep it or you can only lose it," Russell said.

"It's his to lose. My mindset is to enjoy every single race, try and win every single race, the same as I've done this whole season. I'm going to fight the same, I'm not going to change my mentality at all, nor am I going to let this put any more pressure on to me."

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Italian Antonelli, 19, has won four races in a row, while Russell's only grand prix victory this year was in the season-opening race in Australia.

Russell, 28, did win the sprint events in China and Canada.

He has bemoaned a series of events going against him - including technical issues in qualifying in China, a safety-car intervention in Japan that handed the lead to Antonelli and the Canada problems - but says he has no reason to feel he cannot bounce back.

"I don't feel like I need to get every single result possible, because the season's long enough that over the course of the season, it will swing if you're the guy who's on top.

"So I just need to continue being the guy who's coming out on top, even if he's the one at the moment who's getting the results."

Russell said that his retirement in Canada "hurts" but added: "That's just the way racing goes."

And he pointed to his own junior career as a reason to stay positive.

"In Formula 2 (in 2018), I had, I think, five failures over the course of a year," he said.

"I came to Monaco, never been to Monaco before, and I broke down on the out lap in practice. And then went into qualifying, 15-minute session, four laps, and didn't qualify anywhere decent.

"I broke down on other occasions. The engine stalled, but then still went on over the course of a year to win the championship.

"So I take inspiration from those moments. And I think for everyone every year, you have a run of races where, I don't know why or how, everything just goes your way.

"And that's just how it goes sometimes when things turn. It's just a mentality I've got. I'm in a very good head space. The pressure feels off now. And there's just a huge amount of time to go."

5-7 June with race at 14:00 BST on Sunday

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