Toto Wolff warns Mercedes may turn future Kimi Antonelli, George Russell battles ‘down a notch’ after Canadian GP duel | F1 News

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has warned the team may turn future battles between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell “down a notch”.

Antonelli and Russell staged a thrilling contest at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday – a continuation of their fight in the Sprint from the previous day – until a power unit problem for Russell brought the lead duel to an end after 30 laps.

In Saturday’s Sprint, Antonelli was unhappy with his team-mate’s defence. The drivers discussed the incident before the Grand Prix but it did not reduce the aggression levels.

At one point, Antonelli nearly ran into the back of Russell while the pair touched wheels at the final chicane, too, and Wolff says he will highlight those moments to his drivers.

“It’s always easy at the end now to say, ‘well, that was great for the team and great for the sport, didn’t we all enjoy watching the battling?’ That is true to a degree, but there is another side which we need to look at, that it was close a few times,” he explained.

“Kimi tucking back in and locking the tyres could have ended up in a double DNF and not because of over-aggressive driving, simply by a mistake. The same through the last chicane with that situation.

“It’s important to analyse the race and discuss with the drivers whether they felt it was a bit close and if that is the case, how can we avoid these very, very tough situations or very, let’s say, situations where we deem it a little bit too close.”

Despite their battling on Sunday, the Mercedes pair were still able to pull away from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes’ upgrades for Canada appeared to move them further ahead of the field and Wolff suggested, if there are future races without a pace advantage, that may also lead to the toning down of the duelling.

“When they were driving behind each other, we were going half a second quicker than everybody behind us, but when they were fighting, we were losing a second to all the others,” he said.

“So, we had the gap, we had the margin and it’s easy to accept that they are fighting to a certain degree, but obviously that’s not going to be always the case.

“As much as we look very sportsmanlike in Canada allowing it, there could be a situation where we would maybe, turn it down a notch.”

Wolff not fully happy with radio comments

There seemed to be less animosity compared to the Sprint, particularly from Antonelli’s side, but the Italian teenager felt he was “pushed off” at the final chicane on the last occasion they went side by side before Russell’s retirement.

Both drivers were told to keep the racing “tidy” or team orders would be implemented and Wolff admits “there’s room for improvement” when it comes to radio conversations.

“That’s something we can clear internally. I don’t appreciate so much elaborating on emotions on the radio,” he said.

“Wearing your heart on your sleeve is right. Concentrate on the driving, that’s important. But other than that, I think they behaved like race drivers that race for a championship, so I wouldn’t be able to see a fault in that.”

Antonelli’s fourth consecutive win and Russell’s misfortune mean 43 points split the Mercedes drivers after five rounds going into next week’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Wolff said: “More than ever, this fight is on. There is so much at stake for both. As a team, as uncomfortable as the ride is sometimes, you have to accept that this is the fight they’ve been trained for.

“But equally, if there was a situation where we believe the team’s points are at risk of being lost, or there was a situation where we were losing so much time to our competitors behind, then we would not be a millimetre hesitant of putting the handbrake on.”

Next up is the start of Formula 1’s European summer swing, with the Monaco Grand Prix the first of six races in eight weeks. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from June 5-7. Stream Sky Sports with NOW.