Mercedes pair to hold more racing tactics talks after Canada duel
· Yahoo Sports
Toto Wolff felt his Mercedes drivers came “too close” during the Canadian Grand Prix and said they will talk again about how to approach racing across the season.
It was a tense weekend for the Mercedes pit wall as the first flashpoints of the title battle between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell occurred.
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The pair collided during Saturday’s sprint as Antonelli raged over Russell’s “very naughty” move before the Italian again accused his experienced team-mate of pushing him off the track during Sunday’s race.
Ultimately, their pulsating battle was brought to a halt on lap 30 when Russell’s car packed in, resulting in him trundling across the grass before hurling his headrest and banging his fists on the car in frustration.
Antonelli came home to claim a fourth win in a row as Russell was left bemoaning his fortune.
After Saturday’s sprint contact, Mercedes held talks between the pair but agreed that they would continue to race hard.
Wolff feels the pair raced to what was agreed but thinks they will have another look, saying post-race: “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, let’s say, situations where we deem it a little bit too close.
“It’s always easier at the end now to say, ‘well that was great for the team and great for the sport and didn’t we all enjoy watching the battling’.
“And that is true to a degree but there is another side from which we need to look at it, that it was close a few times.
“We had the margin today and then it’s easy to accept that they are fighting to a certain degree, but obviously that’s not going to be always the case.
“So, as much as we look very sportsmanlike today, allowing it, there could be a situation where we would maybe turn it down a notch.”
During Antonelli’s anger following the sprint collision, Wolff came on the radio to tell his 19-year-old driver to “stop the radio moaning”.
“When you listen to some of the radio comms, I think there’s room for improvement,” Wolff added.
Antonelli’s win stretches his title lead to 43 points over his team-mate and Russell said that he felt “the gods don’t want me to be in this fight” after another moment of bad luck.
Wolff is not concerned about Russell’s mindset as he bids to claw his way back into the championship picture.
“Things have been going against him in the last few races,” Wolff said.
“But if there’s one guy that I would choose in this paddock in terms of resilience and determination, that would be George.
“He’s not going to give up that fight. There’s 17 races to go, if my calculation is right.
“So many points to score. This is just… wake up tomorrow and digest, forget, move on, move forward and drive the best you can. And that’s exactly what he’s going to do.”