Kimi Antonelli experienced tense moments at the Canadian Grand Prix in Formula 1 after losing his temper during the internal battle with George Russell at Mercedes. For the former driver and current commentator, Martin Brundle, the young driver was lucky to have the support of Toto Wolff and engineer Peter Bonnington at a delicate moment in the Sprint race.
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The rivalry between the two Mercedes drivers intensified in Montreal during the Sprint at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and again on Sunday’s Grand Prix. Russell started from pole position, but Antonelli showed stronger pace and kept pressuring his teammate for much of the race.
On the sixth lap of the Sprint, Antonelli tried to overtake Russell on the outside at turn 1. There was slight contact between the cars and the British driver ended up pushing the young Italian off the track, preventing the maneuver.
Angry about the incident, Antonelli immediately complained over the team radio. The Italian described the move as ‘very dirty’ and insisted he was already side by side with Russell at the moment of the battle.
Soon after, Antonelli went off track again on the same lap and lost position to Lando Norris. The Mercedes driver finished the Sprint in third place, just 1.8 seconds behind Russell.
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In his post-race column for Sky Sports F1, Martin Brundle said Russell acted like any driver fighting for wins would: “George was a bit more in control and could command the position on track, but Kimi seemed a bit faster,” wrote the former driver.
Brundle, however, considered Antonelli’s reaction after the incident to be exaggerated: “Kimi lost his head a bit during the Sprint, so much so that the team boss, Toto Wolff, had to intervene over the radio,” he said. According to him, Wolff advised the driver to focus on driving and leave the argument for after the race.
The commentator also highlighted the importance of Mercedes’ structure to help Antonelli in these moments: “Kimi is lucky to have Bono and Toto’s experience in these situations. The rest of us probably would have gone straight to confront after the race,” Brundle concluded.
On Sunday, Antonelli recovered and won the Canadian Grand Prix after another tough battle with Russell, until the British driver retired due to mechanical problems with the Mercedes car.
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