ZANDVOORT, Netherlands — Kimi Antonelli called his difficult Dutch Grand Prix weekend so far a “very good wake-up call” as George Russell bids to make up ground in the Formula 1 title fight.Antonelli, 19, returned from F1’s summer break at Zandvoort with a 50-point lead over Lewis Hamilton at the top of the world championship and a 59-point buffer to Russell, his Mercedes teammate.But Russell has looked the stronger of the two Mercedes drivers so far this weekend at Zandvoort, taking pole position for the sprint race on Friday before converting it into victory on Saturday afternoon.Antonelli could only qualify fifth and finish the sprint race in fourth, allowing Russell to reduce the deficit at the top of the standings by three points.Russell then outqualified Antonelli in qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix as the Mercedes duo took second and third place, trailing reigning world champion Lando Norris on pole.Antonelli described his qualifying as “difficult,” explaining that he’d struggled through the session to find the right balance with his Mercedes car, having lost time at the first corner on his final lap due to an error.He also explained that another mistake in sprint qualifying on Friday, where he ran off the track and through the gravel at the penultimate corner, had knocked his confidence.Speaking in the post-qualifying news conference, Antonelli said that while he feels no extra pressure despite his big points lead — equivalent to more than two race wins — his setbacks at Zandvoort so far had served as a good reminder.“It was a very good wake-up call this weekend, that you can never lower your guard,” Antonelli said.Russell (L) trails Antonelli (R) by 56 points in the standings (JOHN THYS / AFP via Getty Images)“Because when you do that, I did a mistake yesterday, and today I did a mistake in Q3.“So it’s not that I’m driving more tense or anything, but it’s just I feel this weekend is a good wake-up call to just put things in the right place at the right time, and just deliver the result when it counts.”The Dutch GP weekend thus far has offered a change to the narrative seen throughout much of the F1 season, in which Antonelli has appeared to have a pace advantage over Russell.Misfortune for Russell, including a first-lap clash with Hamilton in Belgium and an issue that dropped him to the rear of the field off the line in Hungary, has also contributed to the points gap widening.But Russell was reluctant to view Zandvoort as a potential turning point in his season if he were to beat Antonelli on Sunday and take a bite out of his points lead.“This season has not been a clean season whatsoever with all of the issues that we’ve had,” Russell said.“But I just feel, after the (summer) break, I just feel way more relaxed. I don’t feel like I’ve got anything to lose. The pressure’s off. I’m just going to go out and enjoy it.“I don’t even really feel in a fight. It’s not mine to lose. It’s mine to gain. So that’s the mentality I’ve got.“I feel, yeah, that’s going to help me, just enjoying driving.”Despite missing out on pole to Norris by one-tenth of a second, Russell thought Mercedes was “in a great place” for the race on Sunday.The McLaren has been the quickest through the high-speed corners at Zandvoort, but this has also led to increased tire wear for Norris during the 24-lap sprint race on Saturday. Not only was he unable to keep up with Russell at the front, but he also got overtaken by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for second place with six laps remaining.“They look very strong in the high-speed corners, and on a track like this with high tire degradation, you can’t really utilize that performance as much in the race because it just puts too much stress in the tires,” Russell said.“So I think it will come towards us. Ferrari is a little bit further down the order than we would have expected, and I think they would have been the biggest threat.“It’s game on.”