George Russell has received brutal criticism from 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve following his latest battle with Kimi Antonelli.
Russell qualified on pole for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix and led into the first corner but was never able to break away from the field.
He was ultimately overtaken by Lewis Hamilton following a virtual safety car, with the seven-time world champion going on to win by nearly 20 seconds.
As for Russell, it left the Briton with Kimi Antonelli on his gearbox, resulting in another scrap between the Mercedes team-mates. Russell defended well initially before being overtaken by Antonelli in the closing laps.
Fortunately for the King's Lynn-born driver, his team-mate suffered a shock retirement with three laps remaining following a mechanical failure, promoting Russell back to second position.
The result saw Russell gain 18 points on Antonelli, although Villeneuve was left disappointed by the experienced Mercedes driver's defending.
In a series of scathing remarks, Villeneuve said he believed Russell did not look like a driver fighting for the championship and had "already lost the battle" to Antonelli before it had even begun.
"Russell wasn't very good at defending, was he?" Villeneuve questioned on Sky F1. "He left it too late and left the door open. It didn't look like a driver fighting for the championship.
"He looked like he'd already lost the battle to his team-mate, and it was actually a disappointing drive from Russell.
"He had no pace. Look at the qualifying he had — he had his team-mate covered. He had no pace, he was going backwards and feeling the pressure. Very disappointing."
Originally published by RacingNews365 —
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