Wolff opens door for team orders after Antonelli pace advantage in Barcelona

With Hamilton on a three-stop strategy, the Ferrari driver used superior pace in his middle stint to make gains on the Mercedes duo, who had become locked in a battle for the lead before their second pit stops.

Eventually, with a bit of help with the VSC, Hamilton emerged ahead of Russell and Antonelli on fresher tyres after his final pit stop. There was no stopping the seven-time world champion, who went on to secure his first-ever Ferrari win, ahead of Russell and McLaren's Lando Norris - with Antonelli failing to finish after a battery-related DNF.

Mercedes boss Wolff was pleased for his former driver Hamilton and good friend Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, but could not hide his disappointment with the Silver Arrows' race execution. As well as their third power-unit failure in a row, Wolff highlighted Mercedes' decision to let Russell and Antonelli race as a key reason why failed to secure victory for the first time this season.

He said to media, including GPblog: "I'm underwhelmed. We can't DNF cars in a kind of regular or continued way, losing 25 points in the Constructors’ championship in Montreal and losing another 25 points or 18 points today, in order to finish first, first you have to finish. And reliability, this is what we need to get on top of. And that's number one. So nobody's happy about that, and we will leave no stone unturned to understand."

Wolff then specifically highlighted Russell's pace deficit to Antonelli behind him during the race, hinting that it would have been the smarter decision to let the 19-year-old through, and therefore raising the idea of "an interesting discussion" with regard to how Mercedes go about their racing in the future.