Toto Wolff believes the battle for victory between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell at the Italian Grand Prix “could have ended in disaster” – and the Mercedes Formula 1 squad “would have looked like idiots”.
Antonelli started his home race down in 19th, courtesy of a grid penalty for exceeding his power unit allowance, but fought his way up to second place in just 16 laps.
A 12-lap battle with Russell ensued, with the Silver Arrows trading the race lead several times, until a virtual safety car intervention provided the opportunity of a pitstop for Antonelli, who emerged back on track just 14 seconds behind his team-mate.
Fresh tyres meant the 20-year-old Italian caught the lead car with six laps remaining, and the decisive battle for victory occurred then – with a scare on lap 49, as Russell cut Turn 2 while Antonelli slid wide into the gravel trap.
They still achieved a 1-2, with Antonelli leading Russell by four seconds and Max Verstappen by 15s under the chequered flag. However, it definitely wasn’t comfortable for Mercedes team principal Wolff, who considered reaching out to his drivers’ race engineers, Marcus Dudley and Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington.
“We’re trying to anticipate possible scenarios, and the two of them have been great in understanding and embracing the team component – which is difficult for a race driver that tries to win a grand prix, especially for Kimi in Monza, especially for George, who needs to keep scoring points in order to stay in the [title] race,” the Austrian pondered. “But they’ve always been clean.
“At times, we were thinking, ‘It’s clean, but it’s a bit close’. And I had a finger on the button to Marcus, to Bono, to Kimi, to George, but I didn’t push it.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“The last incident was unfortunate. George tried to not cut the corner, and Kimi then obviously on the marbles, going straight, and that could have ended up in a disaster when it comes to the race result. We would have looked like idiots.
“We will be talking about that situation as another building block of how we want to race in the future. But I think it was worth to show the racing spirit in the team and have them go at each other.”
It was suggested to Russell that the battle may be reminiscent of the Canadian Grand Prix – another race with drawn-out Mercedes wheel-to-wheel combat for the lead – which he tentatively agreed with.
Regardless, the Briton expressed regret that Antonelli’s pitstop ended their lengthy duel.
“I would have loved to have continued on the same strategy because I felt in a good position in that battle,” he said. “I sort of knew exactly what I needed to do with the energy management to defend, but also when to attack and make those moves, and I put a lot of preparation into this race in that regard.
“Then, of course, when the VSC came out, it kind of came out at that perfect point for the drivers to pull the trigger and take the pitstop. And, yeah, here we are.”
Having failed to win for a fifth grand prix in a row, Russell is now 66 points adrift of Antonelli in the drivers’ standings.
Additional reporting by Ronald Vording
