– Is history repeating itself at Mercedes? After multiple clashes in the 2016 World Championship duel between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, there could be another internal Mercedes battle for the title exactly ten years later between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.
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A “preview” of a possible duel took place last weekend in Canada. Both in the sprint and in the race in Montreal, Russell and Antonelli fought directly against each other for the win for several laps each.
There was no crash, but Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admits that he was not entirely happy with one or another situation. “They know where the limit is,” says the Austrian in an interview with Sport Bild.
However, he also emphasizes there: “In Canada, they almost went beyond it.” Among other things, Antonelli almost hit Russell’s rear before the final chicane on Sunday. “But we cleared that up in a conversation,” Wolff reveals.
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Does that mean Mercedes is tightening the screws now? “No,” Wolff clarifies and emphasizes: “We will hold back on team orders as long as possible – and if possible, completely. We don’t believe we need them and let the guys race.”
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But what makes Wolff so confident here? After all, he has experienced a very similar situation before. “Both come from our junior program. That is a different starting point,” the team boss clarifies.
“They know what they owe Mercedes,” Wolff emphasizes. “Of course, drivers want to win the Drivers’ Championship rather than the Constructors’ Championship,” the Austrian also knows, “but the team comes first,” he explains.
Wolff hopes that this has also been understood by Russell and Antonelli. However: The first duel between Hamilton and Rosberg at the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix also went down without collision. The accidents happened later …
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