Toto Wolff worries celebrating Kimi Antonelli could cause Mercedes row | F1 | Sport
Toto Wolff insists he isn’t worried about George Russell‘s wretched run and remains certain the Brit “will come back very strong”. And he has urged his driver to remember that it was only last year that Lando Norris win the title after six months of being behind his team-mate in the standings.
Though Norris was never more than 34 points behind of Oscar Piastri last year, while Russell is already 68 points adrift of Kimi Antonelli. Another horrible Sunday saw a drive-through penalty end his push for Monaco points while Antonelli, 19, won his fifth Grand Prix in a row. But Wolff is adamant that Russell will bounce back.
The Mercedes boss said: “I talked with George yesterday and today. This is a long championship. Last year I remember people saying Piastri has won the championship. It’s not necessarily only about one year, but it’s many years. Luck swings your direction, and then sometimes it doesn’t. And it’s not a question of not knowing how to drive. It’s about having a car underneath that you feel confident with and that you can go fast.
“Formula 1 is about physics and not mystics. You don’t unlearn how to drive, so I’m not stressed at all for these performances, because we know he’s one of the best. I couldn’t wish for a better combination of two drivers, and I have no doubt George will come back very strong.”
Of the two, though, there is no doubt that Antonelli is the one delivering right now. Wolff joined the teenager on the podium where they hugged and cheered a victory that has put both team and driver firmly on track for title glory. That was an unusual sight as the Austrian usually sends up other members of his team to celebrate a win.
And he cited Russell’s struggles as the reason for his reluctance to celebrate with Antonelli in front of Prince Albert II and the rest of the Monte Carlo elite. He said: “You know, I haven’t gone to a podium in 10 years, because it’s always difficult to balance between one side of the garage being happy or not.
“Today, I couldn’t avoid it, because the board member I wanted to go said he needs to catch a flight. And then the team said, ‘You’ve got to go, it’s the home place’. And while standing there, I always have mixed feelings. The Montreal race was [Russell’s] to win, we let him down. Today, probably, we could have had a podium, if not for the penalty mistake.”
Mercedes will be able to upgrade their engines this year, as will Ferrari after the FIA proclaimed Red Bull to have the best-performing ICE. It’s the news Lewis Hamilton has waited for, though he warned it will not be an immediate boost. He said: “We’ve now got these tokens, but it’s like an eight-to-10-month project, so it’s not something we can just do next week. We’ll be pushing as hard as we can to see how we can close the gap.”
