Secure your spot today.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cHow we go racing, I think it will really depend on the situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are under threat by other teams then we will race differently, but if it\u2019s just me and him [Russell] we are going to be able to race free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Antonelli expanded on the point when discussing the growing pressure from Mercedes\u2019 rivals, with Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren all expected to be factors in Austria.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, from now on, it\u2019s going to be important to race even more wisely because it\u2019s not just about George and me anymore, but the others are coming,\u201d Antonelli said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think this weekend is going to be a weekend where I think all the top four teams will be super close because Ferrari\u2019s bringing a new engine, a bit more powerful engine, Red Bull is bringing a big, big upgrade, which should give them a lot of performance, and also McLaren, they\u2019ve been there ever since Miami.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely the way I\u2019m going to go racing is maybe a little bit different. Also, it depends a lot on the scenario.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there are other drivers that are close, other competitors that are very close, then probably I would race in a different way than if it was just me and George racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wolff had questioned Mercedes\u2019 approach after Barcelona, where Russell and Antonelli lost time while racing each other before Hamilton benefited from the VSC and emerged with the lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then today we try to race fair in the team game. But maybe it cost us the win today,\u201d Wolff said after the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s something which we need to discuss with the drivers. How are we doing it if we\u2019re fighting somebody else for a race win?\u201d<\/p>\n
Antonelli admitted the championship was becoming increasingly difficult to control, with Hamilton now in form and Russell also remaining a threat inside the same team.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Hamilton, Russell or Mercedes\u2019 recent reliability concerns worried him most, Antonelli replied: \u201cAll of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not worried or concerned. I\u2019m aware that it\u2019s not going to be a walk in the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tough battle because George is super quick, Lewis is in a great moment and is feeling the car and momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely is going to be a tough battle, that\u2019s why it\u2019s going to be important to maximise every opportunity because Barcelona I had the issue at the end and lost a lot of points.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I can, I just need to maximise everything because you never know what can happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t write off the others either, I think you look what Max [Verstappen] did last year coming back from so far, that\u2019s why it\u2019s important to always be present, stay focused and just do your best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercedes has dominated the opening phase of the 2026 season, but its reliability has become a growing concern after two technical DNFs in the last three races.<\/p>\n
Russell also retired from the Canadian Grand Prix with a technical problem, while Antonelli\u2019s Barcelona DNF marked the first race this season Mercedes failed to win.<\/p>\n
2026 F1 Austrian Grand Prix \u2013 Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kimi Antonelli says he and George Russell may race differently in certain situations. Image: XPB Images Antonelli heads…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,39495,10115,945,806,805,803,804,85,4703],"class_list":["post-760547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-austrian-gp","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-mercedes","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports","tag-toto-wolff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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