After the errors made in Barcelona, Toto Wolff has changed the rules at Mercedes. The team boss explains, however, that he will not go as far as to impose a winner between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.
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Mercedes has learned lessons from the Spanish Grand Prix. After seeing George Russell and Kimi Antonelli lose valuable time battling for second place in Barcelona, Toto Wolff decided to review the rules regarding clashes between his drivers.
At Spa-Francorchamps, the Mercedes boss had given a clear instruction to avoid any unnecessary duel likely to compromise victory.
End of time-costing battles
Wolff explains that the objective was to prevent his drivers from slowing each other down.
“After what we learned in Barcelona, where we lost a huge amount of time, our objective in Spa was clear: we should no longer lose time fighting among ourselves.”
The Austrian boss also wanted to prevent a rival from taking advantage of the situation.
“We no longer wanted this phenomenon where drivers overtake each other lap after lap, at the risk of seeing a Ferrari or a Red Bull catch up to us and deprive us of victory, as happened in Barcelona.”
According to Wolff, without Antonelli’s retirement at the Grand Prix of Spain, the Italian would have won the race.
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“Without that retirement, Kimi would have won.”
Victory comes before the championship
Despite this new policy, Wolff assures that Mercedes will not give instructions aimed at offering a victory to one of its drivers at the expense of the other.
Even if Antonelli currently leads the championship, the Mercedes boss refuses to intervene in this way.
“Since Barcelona, we will always prioritize race victory. If that means Kimi is ahead, or George is ahead, we will respect that situation.”
He also reminds that Mercedes is competing for the constructors’ championship as much as the drivers’ championship.
“The constructors’ championship is just as important as the drivers’.”
No question of taking a victory away from a driver
Wolff is categorical on one point: no driver will be sacrificed to favor his teammate.
“We will never take a victory away from one of our drivers. If George is leading, even if he is behind Kimi in the championship, we will not ask him to yield his position at this stage of the season.”
Mercedes therefore intends to better manage the battles between Russell and Antonelli to preserve its chances of victory, while continuing to let its drivers fight on equal terms when circumstances allow.
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