Toto Wolff has outlined how Mercedes will ensure that Kimi Antonelli and George Russell can battle it out for position, whilst prioritising the team\u2019s mission to win both titles this season \u2013 stating that his drivers \u201chave been trained for\u201d such a scenario.<\/p>\n
The Mercedes<\/a> duo have emerged as the clear frontrunners of the campaign, giving Wolff the dilemma of treating Antonelli<\/a> and Russell<\/a> fairly and letting them duel or reining them in should they risk jeopardising team success with their on-track clashes.<\/p>\n Their intra-team contest came to a head over the Canadian Grand Prix<\/a> weekend as the two team mates \u2013 who locked out the front row for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix \u2013 got stuck into multiple fierce battles for the race lead.<\/p>\n Initially labelling their tussle \u2013 which was cut short when Russell retired with a power unit problem on Lap 30 \u2013 \u201cjust acceptable\u201d<\/a> post-race, Wolff later said: \u201cI think we want to look at the pictures today and have [the drivers] come to the right conclusions in terms of saying, ‘do you think that was the level of fighting you think is right? And if that is, why is that?’<\/p>\n \u201cWe will say why we think one or two situations could have been avoided, and ‘what do you want to do to mitigate it?’ But definitely, more than ever, this fight is on.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s so much at stake for both. There’s so much at stake that you have to, as a team, as uncomfortable as the ride is sometimes, you have to accept that this is the fight they’ve been trained for.<\/p>\n \u201cEqually, if there was a situation where we believe the team’s points are at risk of losing, or there was a situation where we were losing so much time to our competitors behind, then we would not be a millimetre hesitant of putting the handbrake on.\u201d<\/p>\n