Nico Rosberg believes George Russell will be driven by "insane motivation" to turn the tables on Kimi Antonelli, similar to his own drive to beat Lewis Hamilton after recurring defeats. Russell's title hopes are slim as Mercedes teammate Antonelli leads by 81 points. Since winning the Australian GP, Russell has finished ahead of Antonelli only twice in the last 10 races, with the Italian taking wins at Monza and Madrid.

Rosberg, reflecting on his 2016 title rebound, said: "I was driven a lot by the pain. Subjectively, it was painful to keep losing against Lewis and that just drove an insane motivation. George will be in a similar situation. He will be so damn motivated... George doesn't give up and he's hating the situation of getting beaten over and over by Kimi."

Russell has been Mercedes' top scorer in three of four seasons, but faces a major turnaround with nine races left. Rosberg added: "I'm very impressed with George's approach... But it's tough for him because he doesn't understand himself. He's always been fast... suddenly it's gone away."