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Sky Sports F1 commentator and former driver Martin Brundle has firmly backed George Russell to bounce back from his recent run of misfortune, even as he faces intense pressure from his team-mate.
Brundle weighed in on Russell's ongoing on-track challenges, noting that the current Formula 1 machinery remains difficult to understand.
"They’re quirky cars to fully understand. It’s George who summed it up best for me when he said he was like a golfer having to learn a completely new swing," Brundle explained during the Sky Sports F1 broadcast in Hungary.
"He’s got nothing to lose now actually. He’s had so much bad luck - wrong place, wrong time, whatever it is, I think he’ll come back really strongly now."
While Brundle remains confident that the engineering team will resolve the underlying technical issues hindering the car, he warned that the Briton still faces a challenge from his team-mate Kimi Antonelli. The Italian driver extended his lead in the drivers' championship with his sixth win of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix.
"The team are going to find the issues, but the biggest problem he’s got is that Kimi is so relentlessly fast," Brundle continued. "That’s what he’s got to work on now, because he can’t do anything about the other stuff."
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
Looking ahead to this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, Brundle expects a close battle between the top four teams - Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.
"Most people in the paddock think that the Ferrari is actually the fastest car, but maybe not the fastest power unit combination," he said. "It’s all corners here; there’s not a straight worth its name really, and the one we have got is dominated by the exit of the last corner anyway.
"So, Ferrari will be good, but so will Mercedes, so will Red Bull, and let’s hope McLaren are right in there as well. They’re really close, and I think getting closer, the top four teams."
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