Toto Wolff Defends Kimi Antonelli After Telling Him to Stop “Moaning on the Radio” in Canadian GP Sprint
The Canadian Grand Prix Sprint at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was entertaining enough on its own terms. George Russell took victory from pole, finishing 1. 272 seconds ahead of Lando Norris , with championship leader Kimi Antonelli a further half-second back in third.
But the real story wasn’t the result. It was the fireworks on team radio that accompanied it. On lap six, Antonelli twice tried to pass Russell and was forced onto the grass on both occasions, at which point he called for his own teammate to be handed a penalty.
That’s when Toto Wolff came over the radio to urge the teenager to calm down. Antonelli had called the defending move “very naughty” and insisted he had been “pushed off,” with engineer Peter Bonnington initially trying to settle him before Wolff stepped in: “Concentrate on the racing please and not the radio moaning. ” Wolff then issued a second message later in the race: “Kimi this is the fourth time – we talk about it internally and not over the radio, OK?
” It sounds severe, and now the team boss is doing a bit of damage control as he downplayed the fiery reaction from his driver. Wolff Saw It as a Teaching Moment, Not a Crisis Speaking after the race on Sky Sports F1 , Wolff was relaxed about what happened. He called it “great cinema,” adding that the intra-team battle had handed Norris second place, and admitted the risk it opened up his team to.
If the fight had gone on longer, he said, Norris might well have won. “You know, I really enjoy these moments because it allows us to learn and to say, okay, what are we doing with this situation? How are we handling that in the future?