In the Sprint in Canada, the duel on the track between the two Mercedes with Antonelli accusing his teammate: “It was unfair, he must get a penalty.” Team principal Toto Wolff: “Think about driving”
The fire smoldered under the ashes and at the first spark the situation exploded. The internal struggle between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell he experienced an episode that will leave repercussions throughout the season at Mercedes. During the Sprint on the Montral circuit with Russell in the lead and Antonelli second, the Italian driver attacked Russell on the outside of turn 1, trying to prepare the inside in the next turn. George closed his partner. Kimi ended up on the grass to avoid contact and then complained over the radio: “That was very naughty,” he said over the radio, “It was a very unfair thing”. It’s not over. Shortly after, Antonelli tried again in turn 8: once again the space became narrow, and Kimi went wide. At that point Sprint became a family matter. Antonelli continued to speak to Peter Bonnington, his engineer, claiming he had been pushed out. “He must take a penalty, I was flanked”. Bono tried to bring him back to the track, to Norris (who had overtaken him in the meantime), to make a comeback. But Kimi didn’t want to listen to reason: “I don’t care, he kicked me out.” Until the intervention of Toto Wolff, dryly: “Kimi, concentrate on driving and stop complaining on the radio.”
Kimi furious
At the end of the race Antonelli still hadn’t gotten over his anger: “It was a tough battle, we were there in terms of pace and I made my move. We were side by side and I was pushed Come on, I have to review the situation. But I saw myself in front and he widened. Then I went out at turn eight through my own fault, but it was a good race.” The two pretended nothing had happened, but what will happen tomorrow in the race? Russel commented like this: “It was a good race. It’s difficult to open a gap on this track, I had a great battle with Kimi and I’m happy that we’re both here at the end. The World Cup? I’ve never really been worried, Miami is a bit of a difficult circuit for me. I feel like this season for me will really start now.” Which is to say that Antonelli’s victories don’t count. The war has begun at Mercedes.
The Sprint
The Montreal Sprint once again highlighted the superiority of Mercedes who probably would have achieved a one-two if Russel and Antonelli hadn’t hindered each other. Behind the silver arrows here are Mc Laren, competitive again. The reigning world champion Lando Norris inserted himself between the two Mercedes, finishing second while Oscar Piastri took fourth place. The Ferraris were far from the best: Charles Leclerc finished in fifth place ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
