Free but not too much, Wolff warns Antonelli and Russell: “There will be situations in which we could intervene”

What a spectacle, but… The challenge entirely within the Mercedes team between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell which took place in Montreal in both the Sprint and the GP recalled the duels between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg from the three-year period 2014-2016. However, Toto Wolff has learned the lesson of 10 years ago and would like to avoid transforming a season that promises to be triumphal for his team into a perennial fratricidal clash with accidents, accusations and controversies. In Canada the greatest tension was experienced during the short race on Saturday, while on Sunday – until Russell’s unfortunate retirement – the situation appeared to be more under control. Wolff and the Mercedes pit wall never intervened to give team orders either in the Sprint or in the GP but limited themselves to calling the drivers – in particular Antonelli – to order due to some unwelcome team radios. At the end of the Canadian weekend, however, it was Brackley’s team principal himself, speaking to journalists, who anticipated that in the future this total freedom of action could be revised: “It’s always easy to say ‘well, it was fantastic for the team and for the sport and we all enjoyed watching the battle’. To a certain extent it’s true, but there is another aspect that we must consider: on several occasions the situation was critical. The fact that Kimi moved to the inside and blocked the tires could have led to a double retirement, not due to too aggressive driving but simply due to a mistake and the same happened at the last chicane with a particular situation. So it is important to analyze the risk – observed Wolff – and then discuss with the drivers if they made a mistake, if the situation was a little too critical. And if so, how can we avoid these very difficult situations?”. Watch out for team radios Wolff didn’t say it explicitly, but the reference is clearly to the use of team orders in the future to force his riders to maintain position. “There is another aspect to take into consideration – added the Austrian manager – in this race we had an advantage in terms of pace, because even when the riders were chasing each other we were half a second faster than everyone else. But there could very well have been a moment in which it wasn’t like that, when they were battling it out, in which we lost a second compared to everyone else. So here we had the advantage, we had the margin, and it’s easy to accept that they battle it out up to a certain point, but obviously it won’t always be like this. Here we we behaved very sportingly, allowing this to happen, but there could be another situation where maybe we could slow down a little.” Certainly, what Wolff did not appreciate were the radio teams in which Antonelli asked for a penalty for his garage partner: “Listening to some radio communications, I think there is room for improvement – ​​Wolff said clearly – but it is right that [i piloti] they appear emotional. But you have to concentrate on driving, this is fundamental. I think they behaved like drivers racing for the championship, so I don’t see anything wrong with that. The penalty request? It’s something we evaluate internally”, he commented. And for Kimi there could be a warning…

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-05-26 18:01:00