'Mercedes encouraged to let Russell and Antonelli battle it out for the title'

Last weekend in Montreal, Antonelli and Russell made contact for the first time during the Sprint at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Antonelli also called for a penalty on his teammate over team radio. Toto Wolff then sent a message to the youngster, telling him to focus on the race over the radio as well. On Sunday, the two championship rivals made contact once again, but their battle was cut short due to Russell's car failure.

Former Haas F1 team boss Guenther Steiner was also pleased to see the two drivers battle it out, as he hailed the Mercedes CEO and team principal as last weekend's rockstar. In The Red Flags podcast, he commented: "He didn't interfere, didn't say anything. Just let them out there. And you have no idea. The Rockstar should be the person who is cleaning his pants. And but fair play to him. When he has such a position, he's just like, ‘Hey, guys, what is happening here? You know, no, he let them go, let them race. That's why I say for Toto, not to put an end to it, what was remarkable, good in my opinion. That was, we can, I can be joking about the smell of Toto's pants, but in the end, he deserves that in my opinion, because that is what made this interesting."

GPblog readers are strongly in favour of Mercedes' current approach. 67.6% believe no restrictions are needed when asked whether the two teammates should be allowed to race freely. A further 21.3% opted for only in certain situations, while just 11.1% said team orders are necessary.

This weekend, the current F1 championship leader received the Trofeo Bandini in Italy. At the media conference, he said that the German team wants to let its drivers compete freely against each other, as it trusts them to race fairly. "They know very well, especially in the position that we are now, you cannot put the leash on us. But they also want to make sure that there's not an unpleasant situation. If they feel like it, in the next few races, they will tell us to race a bit easier."

He also highlighted that he does not want a repeat of the 2016 battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton 10 years later. "Of course we're going to race each other hard, but we'll try to be as fair as possible, avoiding any crashes or contacts because we want the best as well for the team. We want Mercedes to win, as well. We're gonna go at each other, for sure, but in a fair manner," the Italian continued.

About his aggressive approach, he added: "It's like being in a shark tank. You either eat or you're eaten. You have to be aggressive, obviously in the right dose. In Canada I was aggressive, maybe a little too much. If a similar situation happens again, we'll have to be more clear-headed. But it's right for me to be aggressive now, because right now I'm racing to win, I'm playing for victories. It's still early to talk about the championship, but I'm right up there in the standings. It's one of those opportunities that doesn't come along every day, so you want to make the most of it."

The 2026 Formula 1 season continues next weekend with the Monaco Grand Prix. Antonelli currently holds a comfortable lead in the drivers' standings, sitting 43 points ahead of Russell.