Mercedes adopted a conservative stance with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli at the Belgian GP last Sunday (19), aiming to avoid internal disputes that could compromise the fight for victory. According to Toto Wolff, the team principal, the team did not want to repeat the scenario seen at the Spanish GP, when the two drivers lost time battling each other.
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The directive was revealed by Wolff after the race at Spa-Francorchamps, even with Russell retiring on the first lap. The fear was that Ferrari or Max Verstappen would take advantage of the time lost by Mercedes: “After the lesson we learned in Barcelona, where we lost a lot of time, the mission we set for [the Belgian Grand Prix] was not to lose time with each other,” he said.
“We didn’t want to get into that back-and-forth and then have a Ferrari or a Red Bull on our heels and lose a victory, as happened in Barcelona. Without the DNF, Kimi would have won the race,” Wolff stated.
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Despite the directive, the executive guaranteed that Mercedes does not intend to use team orders to favor one driver over the other, even considering the championship fight. “Therefore, since Barcelona, we would, in any case, prioritize winning the race, and if that meant Kimi or George were ahead, that’s what we would do; this is as much a constructors’ championship as it is a drivers’ championship,” he stated.
“We would never take a victory away from either driver. So, if George is ahead, even if he is behind in the championship, at this point in the season, we wouldn’t do that,” concluded the Austrian.
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