Wolff reveals Russell found it 'difficult to cope' with Antonelli as he draws Hamilton-Rosberg comparison

Russell went into 2026 as favourite for the Drivers' Championship but Antonelli stunned his team-mate by winning five consecutive races in the opening quarter of the season. Antonelli now has eight Grand Prix wins this season. Russell fell 81 points behind after Madrid, then cut the deficit to 66 with his Baku victory.

Wolff said Russell was in "rocket mode" in Azerbaijan but has faced tough moments at times this year. He was unusually open about how his senior driver dealt with the early part of the season.

He added to Sky Sports F1: "Suddenly things are different. Your team-mate is so competitive, which you kind of, rationally get but it came as a surprise how competitive he was."

According to Wolff, Russell has since accepted the situation. "He needs to fight him to beat him. I think he has now settled into this reality of 'this is going to be really hard because he's so good'. That I think we kind of figured out together."

Wolff says both drivers have needed his support over the last two years. He added that his experience of handling the challenging dynamic between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg between 2013 and 2016 helps him now.

He has made the comparison before. Earlier in the season, Wolff said he was confident Mercedes would avoid a repeat of the toxic Hamilton-Rosberg rivalry. He pointed out then that "both Kimi and George are Mercedes juniors, and we've been responsible for the trajectory since single-seaters."

Brundle also asked if it would be better if the Italian won because it would be more beneficial commercially. Wolff rejected the idea that Mercedes would ever pick a side.

He did admit that the two possible outcomes would be very different stories: "If it's George it is a story to George Russell won his first championship. If it's Kimi then it's a different story. It's this amazing super kid that won his first championship."