George Russell has revved up the world championship mind games by telling Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli: 'It's your title to lose'.
Russell heads into Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix on the backfoot in the championship race after he retired from the lead at the last round in Canada with an electrical fault.
The British driver's failure to finish allowed Antonelli to claim his fourth consecutive win and increase his title advantage from 18 points to 43 after the opening five rounds.
Russell had started the season as the bookmakers' favourite to land his maiden crown, but he has since been usurped by the 19-year-old Antonelli.
But speaking in Monte Carlo, Russell said: 'I don't think I've got anything to lose.'
'I feel I'm still going with that same mindset, that if I look at it from my competitors' view, 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 lose it. And I think it's his to lose.'
'So, 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 onto me.'
'I don't feel like I need to get every single result possible, because I think the season's long enough that over the course of the season it will swing if you're the guy who's on top.'
'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.'
The luck has certainly favoured Antonelli so far with Russell struck down by technical gremlins in qualifying in China before the Italian took advantage of a safety car to win the next round in Japan.
Antonelli then dominated in Miami, but Russell bounced back to win the sprint race from pole in Montreal, before qualifying first for the main event, only to see his engine expire. Some of the Briton's fans have claimed a conspiracy against him.
But Russell continued: 'I 100 per cent believe I am not being stuffed (by Mercedes). I am just being unfortunate.'
'There are 2,000 team members working to deliver two race cars so there has never ever been a scenario where one driver is purposefully being harmed.'
'It is racing. You can understand people might think that when watching on TV, but when you know the reality… Yes, we are on course to dominate the constructors' championship, but it is not guaranteed, and 2,000 people's bonuses are based on the constructors' championship, and not the drivers', so it is in their own incentive to have both cars finishing.'
'And from a team boss perspective, you don't mind who wins as long as one of your drivers wins. We have not been in this position for four years or five years, so they just want one of us to do it.'
