Guenther Steiner praised Toto Wolff after the intense duel between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli at the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula 1. The former Haas boss stated that the Mercedes director was the ‘rockstar’ of the weekend for allowing the two drivers to fight freely on the track without team interference.
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The battle between the teammates marked the Montreal stage and further increased the tension in the internal championship fight. Antonelli won the race and extended his lead to 43 points over Russell, who retired from the race after power unit problems while directly dueling with the Italian.
Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, Steiner highlighted Wolff’s stance during the most intense moments of the battle. For the former director, Mercedes could have chosen to control the drivers via radio but preferred to let them compete freely.
“Toto Wolff. And you know why? Because he let the two race. He didn’t interfere, didn’t say anything, just let them fight,” Steiner said. The former Haas boss also joked about the pressure experienced by the Mercedes director during the race. “The real rockstar should be the person responsible for cleaning Toto’s pants,” Steiner joked. “But seriously, he deserves recognition because that’s what made the race interesting.”
Mercedes’ weekend in Canada had already started tensely during Saturday’s Sprint race. Russell and Antonelli touched for the first time at turn 1, forcing the Italian to cut across the track. Irritated over the radio, the young driver complained a lot about his teammate’s maneuver.
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“That was very wrong! That should be a penalty. I was next to him,” Antonelli said. At another moment, after being advised by his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, to focus on the race, the Italian replied that he didn’t care. It was then that Wolff entered the communication for the first time: “Kimi, focus on driving, not complaining on the radio.”
Later, Antonelli complained again about how the battle was happening: “If we have to race like this, then it’s good to know,” he said. Wolff immediately responded: “Kimi, this is not the time to talk about this. We will discuss internally and not on the radio, OK?” added the team boss.
Steiner believes that the confrontations between the two Mercedes drivers will continue in the upcoming races. According to him, the level of intensity seen between Russell and Antonelli even surpasses recent battles between McLaren drivers: “These two keep racing as if they were drivers from different teams, not teammates. For me, that was impressive,” he concluded.
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