Patrese: “If I were Wolff I would not have been happy with Antonelli’s race conduct in the Sprint in Canada”

Kimi on board in the Sprint in Canada Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell dueled without holds barred in the Sprint and in the GP in Canada. In the Sprint the battle cost Antonelli a position, then in the race Russell had to raise the white flag due to a technical problem. According to Riccardo Patrese, what happened in Montreal generated reactions from team principal Toto Wolff. “If I were Toto Wolff, I wouldn’t be very happy with what happened in the sprint race in Canada, because Antonelli’s aggressiveness could have caused an accident – said Riccardo Patrese reached by the F1 Hospitality provider Vision4Sport which in partnership with the BWT Alpine team offers an exclusive Monaco yacht experience – I believe that Toto very delicately in the post-race told both drivers not to risk an accident anymore. In my time it was different, with Patrick Head I risked a lot when I overtook Nigel Mansell at the end of the straight in Mexico, after a bad start, and then I won the Grand Prix. Overtaking was a bit risky, and then Head came at us, he wanted to smash our heads with a hammer because he was so angry.” No encore of 1992 Patrese does not believe that Mercedes will favor Russell as happened in Williams in 1992 between Patrese and Mansell: “It is difficult to predict how the relationship between George and Kimi will evolve, it depends on the character of both – concluded Patrese – it is a difficult situation for George. Before he was Hamilton’s number two and there was no history. Lewis was number one. Now Russell thought that, as the new number one, he would have no rivals in the team. In Mercedes there is no they are team orders. They treat both equally. Mercedes will not favor Russell over Antonelli because he is not a Brit. In my case, in 1992, there was really a problem, because I was in an English team with an English driver, Nigel Mansell, and allowing an Italian to win was not part of their plans.”

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-06-04 16:00:00