Mercedes is open to team orders now – but it’s not what you think
Mercedes might enforce team orders if Kimi Antonelli and George Russell risk losing victory due to their wheel-to-wheel action, its Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff stated.
The Silver Arrows took their eighth victory of 2026 when Antonelli won Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, but Wolff has previously made it clear that he was displeased by the team losing out to Ferrari on two occasions.
The Austrian was particularly aggrieved by the Barcelona race, where Russell and Antonelli spent six laps battling for the lead. This caused them to be undercut by Lewis Hamilton who, on fresher tyres, gained 13 seconds on the Italian over those six laps.
The context of the title race – with Antonelli’s lead over Russell up to 50 points and Ferrari a credible title threat – led a journalist to ask Wolff, in his post-race media session at the Belgian Grand Prix, whether it was time to “ring-fence” Antonelli as the team’s lead driver and ask Russell to make way for his team-mate when he’s ahead.
Wolff unsurprisingly declined to make Russell a number-two driver at such an early stage in the season – we’ll reach the halfway point after this weekend’s Hungaroring round – especially with the Briton’s title chances very much alive.
However, the team boss did make it clear that Mercedes couldn’t afford to let a Barcelona-style scenario happen again.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
“The kind of mission that we set for today is that we are not going to lose time with each other,” he replied. “We don’t want any yo-yoing and then have a Ferrari or a Red Bull breathing down our neck and losing a victory, as it happened in Barcelona. You know, without the DNF, Kimi would have won the race.
“Since Barcelona, we would in any case always give preference to the race victory. And if it meant that Kimi or George were ahead, this is what we would do.
“You know, this is a constructor championship as much as a driver championship. We would never take a victory away from any of the drivers. So, if it is George who is ahead, even though he is behind in the championship, at that stage of the season, we wouldn’t do that.”
Russell previously insisted he and Antonelli could be trusted to go wheel to wheel without colliding, following their Montreal fight, but subsequently changed his stance due to their Catalan setback.
“I think it’s clear the win for the team is the priority,” he said. “It doesn’t matter which driver.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
“You saw in Canada, Kimi and I fought really hard, but we were pulling away from everybody else, so the win for the team was not under threat.
“But then you look in Barcelona and suddenly you have another driver who’s in the fight. And okay, Lewis had the safety car, this helped a lot. Without the safety car, you know, Kimi and I were losing time together and it would have given the opportunity to Ferrari to win.
“And that is when, you know, we need to be smart as team-mates and it’s very clear, you know, the team wants to win the race. It doesn’t matter if it’s myself or Kimi.”
Photos from Belgian GP – Sunday
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