谁昨晚睡得最差：乔治·拉塞尔
专栏作者认为拉塞尔虽然登上意大利大奖赛亚军领奖台，但这本应是他能赢下的比赛，因此成为本期“谁昨晚睡得最差”的主角。
昨晚谁睡得最差：乔治·拉塞尔
这位英国车手在意大利大奖赛领奖台的第二级上昂首挺立，但这本应是一场他能赢下的比赛
我在这篇专栏里挑选写作对象时，尽量比单纯地问“谁在最近的大奖赛上过得最惨”更有想象力一些。毕竟，我可不想每周都写兰斯·斯特罗尔之流，把读者烦到无聊。
所以我原本并没打算写乔治·拉塞尔。在铃鹿和巴塞罗那之后，我的同行们今年已经让他两次睡不好觉了。然而这一次，我实在没法绕开他。尽管有那么一刻，我本想把目标换成弗拉维奥·布里亚托利，起因是他在周五的车队领队新闻发布会上那场古怪的亮相。
如果布里亚托利真心认为其中一位上诉法官存在偏袒，那倒也说得过去。但是，在国际汽联的新闻发布会上，把这样严重的指控抛进公共舆论场，在此过程中让国际汽联和迈凯伦都承受最大可能的声誉损害——抱着“总有一点能沾上”的心态——这种做事风格，即便在一级方程式这个弱肉强食的环境里，也已经不符合2026年的道德标准了。
我非常确定，如果角色互换，像安德烈亚·斯特拉这样有风度的人，会先在更私密的场合提出这类阴谋论，然后再去寻求最大程度的公开曝光。
不过算了。弗拉维奥就是弗拉维奥，他一生的事业无可争议，像我这样无足轻重的键盘侠或许应该感到庆幸：在一支日益同质化的一级方程式围场里，像他这样的人物依然存在。无论是好是坏。我要强调：我这么说完全没有讽刺的意思。真的。
如果你想象一个没有基米·安东内利的平行宇宙，这位28岁车手的生活本来会一切安好。他是那一代实力格外强劲的二级方程式（Formula 2）车手中最耀眼的一位，那一届车手里还有一位兰多·诺里斯——而他恰好是现任一级方程式世界冠军。正如预测的那样，梅赛德斯在新规则下打造出了整体最强的套件，拉塞尔本可以轻松领跑积分榜，并顺利走向他期待已久的最终加冕世界冠军之路。
因为这位现年20岁的意大利车手在蒙扎赛场上穿越车阵的惊人表现，对拉塞尔来说是一个分水岭式的时刻，而我认为他如今才刚刚开始意识到这一点。
赛后国际汽联新闻发布会上有一个瞬间，让人窥见了这一点。安东内利当时甚至还没有到场，还在为各家电视台一连串地接受夺冠车手的胜利采访，而拉塞尔和获得第三名的马克斯·维斯塔潘已经坐在蒙扎围场后方那间通常用作国际汽联赛后官方媒体发布会的空调房间里了。
主持人汤姆·克拉克森指出拉塞尔如今落后66分，并询问这位梅赛德斯车手如何评估自己在2026年仍有机会逆转夺冠的可能性。拉塞尔变得若有所思。他说了诸如“基米确实掌握着主动权”、“我甚至没有去想什么反击”之类的话，并表示要扭转局势将会“异常艰难”。
乔治·拉塞尔最终获得第二名，仅次于队友基米·安东内利，后者从第19位发车。
而且，最重要的是：“我只是接受了事情就是这样，从现在开始我只会享受它，并尽可能赢得更多的比赛。”
几乎每一位车手的基因深处都刻着一种信念：自己是最伟大、最优秀的。即使外界得出了完全不同的结论，车手们也习惯于为失败寻找解释，以保住自己心中的那个版本的真相。
“没错，是别人赢了。但如果这个、那个以及其他种种因素对我来说稍有不同，一切本来会完全不同。”
拉塞尔的问题在于：在蒙扎，他从始至终都完成了一份几乎无可挑剔的工作。他没有犯任何实质性的错误，没有被车队坑害，也没有成为任何外部不利因素的受害者。甚至不在虚拟安全车（VSC）下进站的决定，客观上也是合理的——那个决定一度让比赛重新燃起了悬念，因为拉塞尔至少在一段时间内，在与安东内利的“悠悠球”式攻防拉锯中稳住了阵脚。
当一切都剥去之后，剩下的是：在那蒙扎公园历史性的周日，没有任何事情、没有任何人能够阻止安东内利。
这是那种能把麦粒与谷壳分开、真正伟大事业开始萌发的特殊日子。就像1984年的蒙特卡洛与塞纳、1992年的斯帕与迈克尔·舒马赫，或者2016年的英特拉格斯与维斯塔潘一样。
安东内利的表现如此出色，以至于就连拉塞尔身上那股车手固有的基因，即使全力进入自我防御模式，也无法再为“另一辆车里的那个人在不同情况下本有可能被击败”这一说法找到任何说得通的解释了。
不止一位F1评论员将基米·安东内利与埃尔顿·塞纳相提并论。
这或许就是拉塞尔必须正视现实的时候了：只要他还与这位无忧无虑的意大利人同队，他在这项赛车运动巅峰中举起世界冠军奖杯这一毕生梦想，就将会非常、非常难以实现。而这名意大利车手的天赋，如今不仅罗斯伯格拿他与塞纳相提并论，其他人也开始这样认为。
然而，恰恰是罗斯伯格的故事，为拉塞尔在视野中保留了最后一丝希望。
2015年底，几乎已经没有人相信这位德国车手还能在同等赛车的条件下打破刘易斯·汉密尔顿的统治。我自己当时也曾写道，罗斯伯格恐怕永远成不了世界冠军。我错了。
在历史背景下，很少有专家会说罗斯伯格比汉密尔顿更有天赋。七座世界冠军奖杯本身就说明了一切。但在2015年底，罗斯伯格退后一步、向内审视，不知怎的设法将自己能力的极限又往前推了一点——到了2016年，凭借一场令人难忘的毅力壮举，再加上一点往往眷顾有付出之人的运气，他最终还是成为了F1世界冠军。
也许拉塞尔应该邀请罗斯伯格喝一杯蓝布鲁斯科葡萄酒，问问他当初到底是怎么做到的。
因为非凡的成就需要非凡的表现，而罗斯伯格在职业生涯中至少成功做到过一次。在种种不利之下。
毫无疑问，拉塞尔是他这一代最出色的车手之一。在未来一两年内，我们将知道这是否已经足够。
一级方程式的历史上充满了从未成为世界冠军的杰出天才。例如斯特林·莫斯、罗尼·彼得森、斯特凡·贝洛夫，或者更近一些的让·阿莱西和胡安·巴勃罗·蒙托亚。
乔治·拉塞尔的职业生涯会不会与詹卡洛·菲谢凯拉的轨迹相似？
同为意大利人的詹卡洛·菲谢凯拉多年来也被视为一位杰出的天才。2004/05年冬天，当他的雷诺车队终于给他提供了一辆有夺冠能力的赛车时，我为一家印刷杂志撰写了封面故事——一篇赛季前瞻，聚焦世界冠军的主要争夺者。
杂志出版后，菲谢凯拉当时的经纪人恩里科·扎纳里尼给我打来电话。他非常愤怒，因为登上封面的偏偏是菲谢凯拉当时的队友费尔南多·阿隆索，而后者在那时还基本是个无名之辈。而且，菲谢凯拉也没能进入展示其他夺冠热门的较小图片之列，我们在那里选择的是舒马赫和基米·莱科宁这样的车手。
最终，阿隆索真的成为了世界冠军。而菲谢凯拉则以一个永恒的、未能兑现的天才，而非冠军的身份，留在了大奖赛的历史中。
拉塞尔如今发现自己也处在类似的境地。
二十年后的我们回顾今天，会看到一个像菲西凯拉那样的职业生涯——天赋出众，却终究没有冠军头衔吗？还是说拉塞尔能找到出路，最终成为又一个罗斯伯格？
如果做不到，我编辑部的一位同事昨天的玩笑可能就会应验：“很快拉塞尔就会去当采访者，接替大卫·库特哈德。一样的职业路线。”
不过，有一件事是任何人都无法从拉塞尔身上夺走的。
从体育角度来看，他或许可以算是2026年意大利大奖赛的失意者之一。但从人情层面来看，他是周日午后最大的赢家之一。
拉塞尔承认他的队友"表现极其出色"
即便他在颁奖台上为安东内利鼓掌的必要环节中显得有些拘谨，也不会有人为此责怪他。毕竟，他刚刚经历了赛车生涯中最令人痛苦的难堪时刻之一。
但拉塞尔以绅士的风度承受了嘘声和口哨声——意大利观众其实本不该发出这些声音——展现出了他作为一名优秀运动员的风范。
英文原文
Who slept worst last night: George Russell
The Briton held his head high on the second step of the Italian GP podium, but it was a race he should have won
I try to choose my subjects for this column a little more imaginatively than simply asking who had the worst time at the most recent grand prix. After all, I do not want to bore our readers by writing about Lance Stroll & Co. every single week.
That is why I had not really intended to write about George Russell. After Suzuka and Barcelona, colleagues of mine have already made him sleep badly twice this year. And yet, this time, I simply cannot look past him. Even though, for a moment, I was tempted to take on Flavio Briatore instead, after his bizarre appearance in Friday's team principals' press conference.
If Briatore genuinely believes that one of the appeal judges was biased, fair enough. But to throw an allegation of that magnitude into the public arena of an FIA press conference, maximising the potential reputational damage to both the FIA and McLaren in the process - in the spirit of "something will stick" - is a style of doing business that, even in Formula 1's shark tank, no longer fits the ethical standards of 2026.
I am quite sure that, had the roles been reversed, a gentleman such as Andrea Stella would have raised conspiracy theories of that kind in a more private setting first, before seeking the maximum possible level of publicity.
But never mind. Flavio is Flavio, his life's work is beyond dispute, and insignificant keyboard warriors such as myself should probably be grateful that, in an increasingly homogenised Formula 1, characters like him still exist. For better or worse. And I stress: I mean that entirely without irony. Really.
If you imagine a parallel universe without Kimi Antonelli, life would be perfectly fine for the 28-year-old. He was the standout driver of an exceptionally strong Formula 2 generation that also featured a certain Lando Norris, who just happens to be the reigning Formula 1 world champion. Mercedes, as predicted, has developed the strongest overall package under the new regulations, Russell would be leading the championship comfortably, and he would be well on his way to finally becoming world champion.
Because the now 20-year-old Italian's extraordinary charge through the field at Monza was a watershed moment for Russell, and I think he is only just beginning to realise it.
There was a moment in the FIA press conference after the race that offered a glimpse of that. Antonelli had not even arrived yet, still working his way through one triumphant winner's interview after another for the television broadcasters, while Russell and third-placed Max Verstappen were already sitting inside the air-conditioned room at the back of the Monza paddock that usually serves as the setting for the FIA's official post-race media sessions.
Moderator Tom Clarkson pointed out Russell's now 66-point deficit and asked the Mercedes driver how he assessed his chances of somehow still becoming Formula 1 World Champion in 2026. Russell became reflective. He said things such as: "Definitely Kimi’s in control of it", "I'm not even thinking about a comeback", and that turning things around would be "exceptionally challenging".
George Russel came second to team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who started 19th
And, above all: "I’m just sort of accepting that it is what it is and I’m just going to enjoy it from here on in and try and win as many races as possible."
It is deeply embedded in the DNA of almost every racing driver to believe that he is the greatest and the best. Even when the outside world reaches an entirely different conclusion, racing drivers have a habit of finding explanations for defeat that preserve their own version of reality.
"Yes, the other guy won. But if this, that and the other had gone just a little differently for me, everything would have been completely different."
Russell's problem is this: At Monza, he did an almost optimal job from start to finish. He made no meaningful mistakes, he was not sabotaged by his team, and he did not fall victim to any external circumstances. Even the call not to pit under the VSC, which briefly injected fresh momentum into the race as Russell managed, for a while at least, to hang on in his yo-yo battle with Antonelli, was objectively a logical one.
What remains, when everything else is stripped away, is this: Nothing and nobody could have stopped Antonelli on that historic Sunday in the Parco di Monza.
It was one of those special days on which the wheat is separated from the chaff and something genuinely great begins to grow. Like Monte Carlo 1984 with Ayrton Senna, Spa 1992 with Michael Schumacher, or Interlagos 2016 with Verstappen.
Antonelli's performance was so exceptional that even Russell's racing-driver DNA, operating in full self-defence mode, could no longer come up with a plausible explanation for how the guy in the other car might somehow have been beatable under different circumstances.
Kimi Antonelli has been compared to Ayrton Senna by more than one F1 pundit
This may be the point at which Russell has to confront the possibility that fulfilling his lifelong dream of lifting the World Championship trophy in the pinnacle of motorsport is going to be very, very difficult for as long as he shares a team with this carefree Italian, whose natural talent Nico Rosberg is now not alone in comparing with Senna's.
And yet, it is precisely Rosberg's story that offers Russell perhaps the last silver lining on the horizon.
At the end of 2015, there were very few people left who believed the German could still break Lewis Hamilton's supremacy in equal machinery. I myself wrote at the time that Rosberg would probably never become world champion. I was wrong.
There are very few experts who, in the historical context, would describe Rosberg as the greater talent than Hamilton. Seven world championship titles tell their own story. But at the end of 2015, Rosberg went away, looked inward, somehow managed to move the limits of his own ability a little further – and in 2016, through a memorable feat of determination and with a little of the luck that tends to favour the deserving, he became Formula 1 world champion after all.
Perhaps Russell should invite Rosberg for a glass of Lambrusco and ask him how exactly he managed it.
Because extraordinary achievements require extraordinary performances, and Rosberg managed to produce one at least once in his career. Against all odds.
There can be no doubt that Russell is one of the best drivers of his generation. Over the next year or two, we will find out whether that is enough.
Formula 1 history is full of exceptional talents who never became world champion. Stirling Moss, for example. Ronnie Peterson. Stefan Bellof. Or, in more recent times, Jean Alesi and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Could George Russell's career mirror that of Giancarlo Fisichella?
Giancarlo Fisichella, a fellow Italian, was also regarded for many years as an outstanding talent. In the winter of 2004/05, when his Renault team had finally given him a car capable of winning, I wrote the cover story for a print magazine – a season preview featuring the leading contenders for the world championship.
After the magazine came out, Fisichella's then-manager Enrico Zanarini called me. He was furious because, of all people, Fisichella's team-mate Fernando Alonso, still largely an unknown quantity at the time, had made it onto the cover. Nor, for that matter, had Fisichella made it into the smaller images featuring the other championship candidates, where we had instead chosen drivers such as Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen.
In the end, Alonso really did become World Champion. And Fisichella went down in grand prix history not as a champion, but as an eternal, unfulfilled talent.
Russell now finds himself in a similar position.
When we look back in 20 years' time, will we see a career like Fisichella's – outstanding talent, but ultimately no title? Or will Russell find a way through and become a Rosberg after all?
If not, one of my colleagues in the newsroom may turn out to have been right when he joked yesterday: "Soon it'll be Russell doing the interviews instead of David Coulthard. Same career path."
There is one thing, however, that nobody can take away from Russell.
Sportingly, he may have been one of the losers of the 2026 Italian Grand Prix. On a human level, he was one of the great winners of Sunday afternoon.
George Russell admitted his team-mate is "performing incredibly well"
Nobody would have held it against him had he been somewhat restrained during the obligatory applause for Antonelli on the podium. After all, he had just experienced one of the most painful humiliations of his motorsport career.
But Russell endured the boos and whistles - which the Italian crowd really could have done without - like a gentleman, and showed just what a fine sportsman he is.
Motorsport.com ·
内容来自公开信源，聚合内容版权归原作者与来源所有。