Time to make decisions
After 10 races held out of 22 – so far – on the calendar Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the World Championship leader with a 45-point lead over Lewis Hamilton and 50 over George Russell. Incredibly, considering how this season started, the two Silver Arrows drivers are therefore not first and second in the championship and in fact, there are two full wins of distance between them in the standings, in a context where Ferrari does not appear as a sacrificial victim but rather as a legitimate challenger to Mercedes, albeit in the role of underdog.
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It is therefore not surprising that, being almost at the halfway point of the season, the first questions are starting to emerge – addressed to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff – about the possible opportunity to implement team orders to favor the better-placed driver in the standings – therefore Antonelli – in case Ferrari recovers further points and jeopardizes the Italian’s chance to win the Drivers’ World Championship.
Priority to stage wins
The answer Wolff gave to the journalists present at Spa was interesting, also because it was based on the ‘lesson’ learned this year in Catalonia, when Russell and Antonelli hindered each other at a crucial moment of the race: “After the experience we had in Barcelona the goal we set ourselves is not to lose time between us. We don’t want those ‘yo-yo racing’ situations. So, after Barcelona, we will always prioritize the race win”, the Austrian manager made clear.
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The intent of the Mercedes team principal, who knows well the problems that can arise in a head-to-head challenge between teammates, is therefore for the moment to prioritize the team result and the Constructors’ standings: “If that meant that Kimi or George could lead (the race), that’s exactly what we would do – Wolff specified – this is a Constructors’ championship as much as a Drivers’ championship. We would never take a win away from any of the drivers. So, if George were leading, even if he is behind in the championship, at this stage of the season, we wouldn’t do it (stop him to let Antonelli pass)”.
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