Russell and Antonelli submit joint Mercedes request as Canadian GP meeting uncovered

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli pleaded with Mercedes’ management to “trust” the pair to race cleanly during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, it has emerged.

Antonelli and Russell put on a thrilling show in Montreal last weekend prior to the latter’s retirement from Sunday’s main race.

Kimi Antonelli and George Russell plead for Mercedes ‘trust’

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The pair raced wheel to wheel during Saturday’s Sprint, with Antonelli calling for Russell to be penalised after being ushered off track at Turn 1.

Russell and Antonelli also repeatedly traded the lead for the first third of the grand prix before the British driver suffered what Mercedes described as a “catastrophic” battery failure.

Antonelli went on to secure a fourth consecutive victory, stretching his advantage over Russell to 43 points after five races of the F1 2026 season.

George Russell vs Kimi Antonelli: Mercedes head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

Russell later commented that the title is now Antonelli’s “to lose” given his commanding lead at such an early stage of the campaign.

Bradley Lord, the Mercedes deputy team principal, has revealed that the drivers held a meeting with team boss Toto Wolff in the aftermath of the Sprint race in Canada where they urged management to trust them to race cleanly.

Appearing on Mercedes’ Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show, Lord said: “After the Sprint in Canada, there was a sit down and a chat with Toto as well with the two drivers.

“They talked about how the Sprint had gone and how they want to race each other going forward.

“Kimi referred to it as a little bit like being called to the headmaster’s or the principal’s office.

“That again was a very constructive and very amicable conversation. The message from the drivers was clear: trust us to race each other, that’s what you’ve hired us to do and we can do it.

“And we’re capable of doing it and making sure that racing is always happening with the interests of Mercedes foremost, not just the individual priorities of each driver.

“It was important to talk, important to have those incidents and to recognise what’s at stake this year.

“They are racing for wins at each race weekend so far, potentially for a championship if we can continue this form further into the season, so it is important for the team as well to recognise that this is their life dream.

“That they’ve worked all these years in karting, through the junior formula and now into F1.

“You have to respect the magnitude of that challenge for the drivers as well. I think we came out of it in a pretty good place.

“As we saw on Sunday, there was some awesome racing.”

As reported by PlanetF1.com on Saturday, Wolff insisted after the race in Canada that the drivers did not put their own interests before those of the team.

However, he conceded that there is “room for improvement” in terms of how Russell and Antonelli communicate over team radio.

Asked if he is concerned that the drivers’ own interests could hurt the team, Wolff said in Montreal: “No, I don’t think so.

“Obviously, when you listen to some of the radio comms, I think there’s room for improvement.

“But in terms of wearing your heart on your sleeve, it’s right. But not – how can I say? – concentrate on the driving, that’s important.

“But other than that, I think they behaved like race drivers that race for a championship.

“So I wouldn’t be able to see a fault in that [approach].”

Put to him directly that radio messages like Antonelli’s calling for a Russell penalty could attract the attention of stewards, Wolff added: “That’s something we can clear internally.

“But I don’t appreciate so much elaborating on emotions on the radio.”

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