Nigel Mansell urges George Russell to ‘stamp his authority’ after Kimi Antonelli charge

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1992 Formula 1 champion Nigel Mansell has urged George Russell to "stamp the authority" within Mercedes after his team-mate Kimi Antonelli took the lead of the drivers' standings.

Russell had a commanding start to the season, winning the Australian Grand Prix and Chinese sprint race. But after two troublesome grands prix in China and Japan, and two wins for his team-mate, the Italian driver has now become the youngest championship leader in the history of the series.

"George is a great driver," Mansell told Sky Sports F1. "Sometimes it's how the chips fall, sometimes you have a bit of luck, and sometimes you don't. It's a long season, but you've got to lead by incredible focus."

Mansell drew on his own experience battling against his Williams team-mate Riccardo Patrese in 1992, detailing how he temporarily swapped cars with the Italian driver after he had accused Williams of providing Mansell with a "special car".

"I'll never forget [my team-mate] Riccardo Patrese in 1992 thought I had a special car," he continued.

"We swapped qualifying cars at Sao Paulo early in the season and I got Sir Frank [Williams] and Patrick [Head] to agree with that because I was two seconds a lap quicker than him. Long story short, the first and second lap, I went out in his car, I was 1.5 seconds quicker, straight away in his car."

Nigel Mansell