MONACO, June 4 – Formula 1 championship frontrunner Kimi Antonelli and his Mercedes teammate George Russell pledged to maintain their aggressive racing approach for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, even after team boss Toto Wolff hinted he may need to step in and control their battles.
During last month’s Canadian Grand Prix, the 19-year-old Antonelli became frustrated following contact with Russell in their sprint race, which Russell ultimately won.
The teammates clashed once more the next day during the main event while battling for first place, before Russell’s race ended due to a power unit problem, giving Antonelli his fourth straight victory.
Though Wolff acknowledged their battle made for “good cinema,” he noted their fight cost both drivers valuable time and warned he would step in if their rivalry threatened the team’s point totals.
According to Antonelli, team meetings occurred several days prior to their Monaco arrival to analyze the Canadian incidents.
“Basically, the end of the discussion was that you can race each other fairly as long as there is respect and you don’t put yourselves in a situation where you could damage one of you or both of you,” the Italian driver explained to media on Thursday.
“The team doesn’t want to put rules, but understandably they want both cars to finish and to get as many points as possible. That is in our minds as well because we race for ourselves to be the best but also we race for the team to reward the 2,000 people who work for the team.”
“We’ll keep racing each other like in Canada but a bit more smartly. But definitely the team wants us to race freely because you can’t really put a leash on a driver.”
Russell, the British driver who captured the season opener in Melbourne but now trails Antonelli by 43 points, dismissed any worries about their competitive relationship.
“We have to be trusted and this is what we do, we are drivers and we push ourselves to the limit every single lap,” he said to reporters. “When we race we push each other to the limit.
“I know when you are sat on the sidelines in the pit wall like Toto of course it’s stressful and tense because you can’t control it but ultimately we have to be trusted and we are trusted. We’ll keep fighting but we know the boundaries.”
Antonelli has become the first Italian driver since Alberto Ascari in 1952 to claim four consecutive race victories, and represents the first F1 driver ever to win his initial four races in succession.
As Monaco begins an demanding stretch of the racing calendar and presents a track that could challenge Mercedes’ current dominance, Antonelli finds himself as the driver to beat.
Following the Canadian race, Russell declared the championship is now Antonelli’s to lose, though the Italian downplayed any mounting pressure.
“It’s so early in the season, there are 17 or maybe more races to go and it’s too early to talk about the championship,” he stated. “You can’t lose something you haven’t achieved.
“I feel pretty relaxed about the situation. I just want to keep on doing what I’m doing, raise the bar and try to win as much as possible.
“George is a super strong team mate and he will make my life very hard, but I just try to deal with every situation and then try to excel at what I do.”
