Mercedes Weighs Team Orders as Antonelli Closes to 41 Points of F1 Lead
Updated
Updated · Motorsport.com · Jun 15
Mercedes Weighs Team Orders as Antonelli Closes to 41 Points of F1 Lead
3 articles · Updated · Motorsport.com · Jun 15
Summary
Toto Wolff said Mercedes has discussed letting the faster driver through after Barcelona, where Kimi Antonelli overtook George Russell before retiring and exposed the team’s reluctance to intervene.
Four to six seconds lost in the intra-team fight helped Lewis Hamilton rejoin ahead after his pit stop, turning a private Mercedes duel into a strategic problem with Ferrari back in contention.
Russell still gained 18 points on Antonelli in Spain, but the result masked a deeper issue: Antonelli was again quicker on race pace, even after Russell took pole by three tenths on Saturday.
Mercedes remains the championship favorite after six straight wins before Ferrari’s Barcelona breakthrough, but recurring reliability failures in Canada and Spain have raised the cost of letting its drivers race freely.