'Brainless' and 'lunatics': Wolff hits back at claims Mercedes favours Antonelli
With Antonelli 84 points clear and Russell starting Sunday from the back, Toto Wolff says anyone who thinks Mercedes picks favourites has no idea how the team works.
Toto Wolff has heard the theory that Mercedes is helping Kimi Antonelli win the title at George Russell’s expense. On Friday in Singapore, he gave his answer.
“They’re brainless, whoever thinks that,” the Mercedes team principal said in the FIA press conference. “I mean, it’s completely nonsensical.”
Why the question came up
The timing has not helped Mercedes. Antonelli leads Russell by 84 points after Sepang, where Russell’s power unit failed while he was running third. In Singapore, Russell takes his fifth power unit of the season and starts Sunday’s Grand Prix from the back.
Mercedes is also splitting its old and new car specifications between the two drivers this weekend, with Russell on the older package in practice. Put it all together and some fans have drawn their own conclusions.
Wolff had little time for that. He asked whether people really think he has “a button that says, ‘George engine failure now’”, at a time when the team is fighting for the Constructors’ Championship and has always given both drivers equal material.
He blamed social media, where people “hide behind their screens and then they lash out”, and said the abuse aimed at him has become a source of entertainment. “I’m Satan, I’ve heard,” he said. People who believe it, he added, should stop watching F1 and “do Teletubbies or some Mickey Mouse”.
“Pretty annoying”
Asked how he protects Russell’s state of mind when a team tends to lean towards the driver getting results, Wolff told a story from his early days in F1. He once asked Alain Prost why things went so wrong with Ayrton Senna. Prost told him it was because the drivers never knew where they stood with the team. Wolff said he has tried to keep things balanced ever since.
He pointed to how close he is to both drivers. Antonelli has been part of Mercedes since he was 11, Russell since he was 17. Away from the track, Wolff and his wife Susie spend time with Russell and his partner Carmen.
Same chances for George
Wolff said the split upgrade is a test, not politics. “We don’t know which one is going to be quicker,” he said. “And so you take a decision and say, ‘Let’s try to find out.’”
On track, he said the team will not stand in either driver’s way, and the quicker car will always get its chance. And even with the title now leaning Antonelli’s way, he promised nothing will change for Russell.
“Even if it is now that it’s more realistic for Kimi to win a championship in sheer mathematical probability, we would still give George the same opportunities,” he said. “And then people can think what they want.”
There was a lighter moment too. Sitting next to him, McLaren’s Zak Brown offered a solution to the whole debate: “Silver Arrows rules will fix it.” Wolff replied that McLaren already has “the exclusive rights on fruits”, a nod to McLaren’s famous “Papaya Rules”.
Our take
Mercedes gains nothing from hurting either driver while it chases the constructors’ title. Bad luck and bad timing are not a conspiracy.
