Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has hailed the battle between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli as “great cinema”, but has vowed not to let it become “Star Wars”.
For the first time this season, Antonelli and Russell clashed, with the championship-leading teenager coming off second best and voicing his anger and frustration over the radio during the Canadian Sprint, forcing Wolff to tell him to calm down.
On lap six of the 23-lap event at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Antonelli initially made a move on Russell into Turn 1, only to take to the grass following a minor collision between the two as the Briton tried to hold his line out of the left-hander.
Later in the lap, on the approach to the chicane at Turns 8/9, and with Antonelli poised to attack Russell again, he caught a bump that sent him hurtling onto the grass again, with the lost momentum allowing McLaren’s Lando Norris to claim second position.
Asked for his initial thoughts on the race, speaking to Sky Sports F1, Wolff said: “It was great cinema. Tough fighting, not only between our two, but also with Lando and further back. I enjoyed watching it.”
Suggested that the fight cost the team a one-two, Wolff added: “Absolutely. You can see how quickly it goes.
“You create a gap with two cars, and then you start to fight a bit, and you can lose a race. If that goes longer and a bit unlucky for us, and it’s the grand prix, Norris may well win.”
As to the feud that took place on the track between his two drivers, Wolff was keen to put the situation in perspective, and notably avoid any heat on Antonelli, in particular.
“I really enjoy these moments because it allows us to learn and to say, ‘Okay, what are we doing with this situation? How are we handling that in the future?’
“Because you don’t want to lose a race, you don’t want to crash into each other, and sometimes it needs a little moment to remind ourselves what our objectives are.
“This is not particularly against one or the other, but there’s a framework that we want to establish, and I’d rather have it in a sprint race where it’s not about a lot of points than in the main race.
“And we don’t want to start with race five and have headlines like Star Wars or this is escalating because it’s not.
“It’s in the emotion, he’s a young driver, and I think George would have probably done the same, so we just need to see how we handle that.”
