What sparks in the Montreal Sprint: in the radio sequence between Antonelli and the pits all the frustration of the young Italian for George’s defense, judged incorrect by the Bolognese. But the Mercedes team principal immediately calmed him down
Kimi Antonelli also lost his innocence. Live on the radio. It happened in the Canadian Sprint, on the circuit named after Gilles Villeneuve, someone who knew something about courage and instinct. Only this time the instinct of the boy from Bologna clashed with the harshest law of Formula 1: the fight between teammates. Mercedes on parade: George Russell first, Antonelli second. Escape to victory. Yes, but whose? On lap 6, Kimi decided that waiting was no longer enough. He attacked Russell on the outside of Turn 1, trying to set up the inside into the next turn. George has already lost his innocence a long time ago, and has closed his companion. Kimi ended up on the grass to avoid contact.
“this is incorrect”
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“That was very naughty”, he said over the radio, “it was a very incorrect thing”. It’s not over. Shortly afterwards Antonelli tried again, more out of nerves than calculation, putting the car into Turn 8 while Russell managed the moment. Once again the space became narrow, and Kimi went wide. A miscalculation, too. At that point Sprint became a family matter. Antonelli continued to speak to Peter Bonnington, his engineer, claiming he had been pushed out. “He must take a penalty, I was flanked”. Bono tried to bring him back to the track, to Norris (who had overtaken him in the meantime), to make a comeback. But Kimi didn’t want to listen to reason: “I don’t care, he kicked me out.” Until the intervention of Toto Wolff, dryly: “Kimi, concentrate on driving and stop complaining on the radio.”
ferocity
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Wolff knows how to be calm and calm. But also determined. In fact, he sent another peremptory message to the Italian phenomenon saying: “Kimi, this is the fourth time: we’ll talk about it internally and not via radio, ok?”. In another team radio at the end of the Chinese GP, a few months ago, Kimi’s first victory in Formula 1, Wolff and the others from the garage used words of fathers: “My son”. But we become adults and now Kimi too has to deal with ferocity. It can happen, it’s in the order of sport. In Canada, in the end Russell resisted and won the Sprint, Norris finished second, Kimi third, after attempting another lunge on the last lap on the McLaren. Then, on the podium smiles between Kimi and George, yes. But not really very wide…
after the sprint
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After the race, more coldly, Kimi reiterated his reasons: “It was a tough battle, we were there in terms of pace and I made my move. We were side by side and I was pushed away, I have to review the situation. But I saw myself in front and he went wide. Then I went out at turn eight through my fault, but it was a good race.” Russell recounted the episode like this: “It was a good race. It’s difficult to open a gap on this track, I had a great battle with Kimi and I’m happy that we’re both here at the end. The World Championship? I’ve never really been worried, Miami is a bit of a difficult circuit for me. I feel like this season will really start for me now.”
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