Russell insists he will keep fighting until it’s 'mathematically impossible' in title battle with Antonelli

George Russell has stated he will "keep fighting every single race until it's mathematically impossible" that he can't win this year's Formula 1 title.

The Mercedes driver trails team mate Kimi Antonelli by 81 points in the drivers' standings, with the young Italian having taken his eighth victory of the season last time out in Madrid.

Russell was only able to finish P5 at the Madring and claimed after the race that he was "not in the fight" for the title anymore with just nine rounds remaining.

Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend, Russell admitted that he would still keep fighting until the last opportunity, but that increasing his performance was the main priority.

"I'm going to keep fighting every single race until it's mathematically impossible," said Russell on Wednesday's media day in Baku.

"It doesn't change how I go about my job. I want to try and win every single race and put it on pole every single race.

"That's my goal, that's what I'm working towards every single weekend and what happens thereafter will be. There's obviously a huge deficit but it's not even a consideration right now. The performance is the biggest priority.

"I don't think I was really putting pressure on myself before from a championship standpoint. I was putting pressure on myself from a performance perspective. I'm in this position in the championship because the performance hasn't been strong enough.

"It's been the case for a while where the pressure has come from trying to improve the performance, rather than thinking I need to fight for this championship because you can only fight for a championship if you've got the performance."

Russell has failed to register a win since the Austrian Grand Prix back in June, but he admits that although results have not shown it since the summer break, he has been encouraged by his pace over the last three Grands Prix, which have yielded two podiums.

"I've been pleased with that progress since the summer break," he added. "The race pace, which was a weakness, has been substantiality better and has been in the mix every race since the break.

"I now feel more comfortable that I can fight for great results. Let's see from now until the end of the season how the points could fall."