Mercedes has confirmed that George Russell and Kimi Antonelli had talks with Team Principal Toto Wolff after their clash at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell and Antonelli were at the centre of a Titanic duel across the weekend in Canada, sparring in both the Sprint Race and Sunday’s Grand Prix.
But it was the Sprint Race that acted as a flashpoint for the Silver Arrows, the two drivers involved in an incident that could have ended in disaster.
Antonelli took to the radio to air his displeasure at the incident with Russell, which forced him wide, and compromised his race.
Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord confirmed that the two drivers were brought in front of Wolff afterwards to discuss the rules of engagement in racing.
“After the sprint, there was a sit down and a chat with Toto and the two drivers just talking about how the sprint had gone and how they wanted to race each other going forward,” d Lord revealed on Mercedes’ Nu Silver Arrows podcast.
“I think Kimi referred to it as a little bit like being called to the headmaster’s or the principal’s office.
“That was actually a very constructive and very amicable conversation, but the message from the drivers was really, really clear. ‘Trust us to race each other. That’s what you’ve hired us to do, and we can do it’.”
Mercedes “want to let their drivers race”
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin reaffirmed the team’s stance that the drivers should be allowed to race, but added incidents “here it got too close for comfort.” need to be governed.
“Most of it is absolutely fine, and you always want to let the drivers race.” he said.
“If the team is doing a good job, you’ve had the right conversations beforehand, and you don’t have to interfere.
“There were a couple of points there where it got too close for comfort. There was one point where it looked like one could have ended up going into the back of the other, which we will do everything we can to try and avoid.
“But the two of them want to be allowed to race. They know that they need to deliver on their end of the bargain, which is to race fairly, race without risking DNF. Don’t hit each other. We had good discussions during the weekend. We’ll have good discussions ahead of the next race.”
Mercedes has a long history of managing drivers battling for the title. With Antonelli and Russell, it has chosen the path of proactive management to prevent the situation spiralling as it did with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
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