Former Formulation 1 driver David Coulthard has mentioned the intra-team battle that’s forming at Mercedes after Kimi Antonelli claimed his maiden F1 win on the Chinese language Grand Prix.
After simply two rounds of the 2026 season, George Russell has gained the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and the Chinese language dash race, and Antonelli has gained the Chinese language Grand Prix.
Whereas Russell congratulated his team-mate, Coulthard argued that “behind that façade,” he could be “making an attempt to get each benefit he can over him for Suzuka”.
“Nicely, look, it is executed. It is executed now as a result of George is aware of he has an actual menace for this championship,” Coulthard mentioned throughout an episode of the Up To Velocity podcast when requested how lengthy team-mates can keep associates.
“This is likely to be, as we have seen with Lando final yr and Oscar, McLaren reached some extent the place they delivered them a automotive they usually fought for the world championship. Amazingly, they nearly misplaced out to Max by a few factors.
George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
“However this could possibly be the one time on this new period of Formulation 1 that Mercedes provides them the type of benefit they have. So, make no bones about it, George, behind that façade of nicely executed Kimi, is making an attempt to get each benefit he can over him for Suzuka, the subsequent Grand Prix and going ahead.
“And Kimi’s workforce needs to be doing the identical. The identify team-mates is a misnomer. He is not your mate. In case you get together with him away from the observe, that is nice. However his success is your failure and vice versa.”
The Japanese Grand Prix will happen from 27-29 March on the Suzuka Circuit earlier than a five-week break because of the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix. The next race would be the Miami Grand Prix on 1-3 Might.
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