Palmer: The main threat to Kimi remains George.

      Former drivers Jolyon Palmer and James Hinchcliffe, now experts for the official championship website, have differing opinions on what factors could prevent Kimi Antonelli from winning the title.

      The Italian driver, who will celebrate his 20th birthday at the end of August, has already secured five victories this season, but last stood atop the podium in Monaco. After that, difficulties began, particularly in Barcelona and Silverstone where he failed to score points due to car issues. At the Austrian stage, Kimi, by his own admission, made too many mistakes, and his Mercedes teammate George Russell was simply faster.

      However, Russell also faced misfortune in Canada – his car failed while he was leading the race, but after nine stages of the season, his deficit to Antonelli has been reduced to 25 points – exactly the amount awarded to the Grand Prix winner.

      Palmer, who once raced in Formula 1 for Renault, believes that the main threat to Kimi comes primarily from his experienced teammate, inspired by his success at the Austrian stage where the Brit won both the qualifying and the race.

      "I would say the main threat to Kimi remains George," Jolyon reflected while participating in the latest episode of the F1 Nation podcast. "George is fortunate in that, considering his level of results, he is only 25 points behind his teammate. But from last year, we remember that Lando Norris improved closer to the end of the season when he got everything together, while Oscar Piastri couldn't consistently maintain good form.

      And Kimi is not having luck. A driver must be prepared for the fact that throughout the year things can go differently – this is exactly what is happening with Mercedes. He cannot influence this, but if the car continues to break down, Antonelli may miss out on the championship win.

      I believe that now everything depends on Russell, on whether he can race in the same style he demonstrated in Melbourne, when it seemed we were seeing that George again, the one he was two years ago."

      The 39-year-old Canadian, who spent 11 seasons in IndyCar and won 6 races during that time, disagrees with him, believing that the main problem that could hinder Antonelli is the unreliability of the equipment.

      "I don't know if George has declined this year, or if Kimi has just started to show his true speed," Hinchcliffe reacted to Palmer's words. "When I see him on the track, how his car behaves, I see the aggression with which he conducts duels when the fight is wheel to wheel. In that regard, I wouldn't risk betting against him. It seems that his main problem now is technical failures, its unreliability, and I can't say that George has noticeably improved.

      Last year we said that Russell was probably one of the most stable drivers in the championship, as he performed excellently despite not having the fastest car. And now, with more than a third of the season behind us, to be honest, there have only been two, maybe three weekends when George outpaced Kimi on all days.

      Even if he looks good on Friday and Saturday, on Sunday Antonelli ends up being slightly faster than his teammate, and in races, that's what matters. Judging by the statistics, for one reason or another, this car doesn't suit George very well – just as Lewis Hamilton didn't like the previous generation cars."