"Trust us to race each other" - The message George Russell and Kimi Antonelli had for Mercedes

The Mercedes Formula 1 team has provided more insight into its conversations with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli after the pair's intense Canadian Grand Prix battles prompted internal reviews.

In Montreal, Russell and Antonelli battled each other wheel-to-wheel for the first time as Mercedes consolidated its dominance at the front of the 2026 field, with its drivers likely to decide the 2026 drivers' title between them.

Their sprint race battles triggered some frustration in Antonelli over Russell's robust defending and in Sunday's grand prix, the pair traded the lead until Russell's mid-race retirement, with a few battles that the team felt were "too close for comfort".

"Most of it is absolutely fine," trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said on Mercedes' Nu Silver Arrows podcast. "And you always want to let the drivers race. If the team is doing a good job, you've had the right conversations beforehand, and you don't have to interfere. There were a couple of points there where it got too close for comfort. There was one point where it looked like one could have ended up going into the back of the other, which we will do everything we can to try and avoid.

"But the two of them want to be allowed to race. They know that they need to deliver on their end of the bargain, which is to race fairly, race without risking DNF. Don't hit each other. We had good discussions during the weekend. We'll have good discussions ahead of the next race."

Antonelli's anger during the sprint race over Russell's stout defence, in which he called for a penalty for his team-mate and felt he had misunderstood Mercedes' rules of engagement, led to talks on Saturday night with team principal Toto Wolff, in which the drivers pleaded to continue letting them race.

Watch: NU Silver Arrows Radio Show, Episode 3: Montreal Unpacked

"After the sprint, there was a sit down and a chat with Toto and the two drivers just talking about how the sprint had gone and how they wanted to race each other going forward," deputy team principal Bradley Lord explained. "I think Kimi referred to it as a little bit like being called to the headmaster's or the principal's office.  

"That was actually a very constructive and very amicable conversation, but the message from the drivers was really, really clear. 'Trust us to race each other. That's what you've hired us to do, and we can do it'."

With the benefit of having experienced the fraught rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg a decade ago, Mercedes is clear about wanting to get ahead of any angst, so it wants its drivers to be open about any concerns they have rather than letting any frustration build up and fester.

George Russell fell 43 points behind Kimi Antonelli after a costly power unit failure.

Photo by: Brett Farmer / LAT Images via Getty Images

"It feels a little bit like watching the sequel to the movie," Lord said about Mercedes' first real intra-team title battle since the Hamilton and Rosberg years. "We did quite a lot of learning about what we could have done better back in those years and trying to apply that now.  

"Some of our rivals have said this is a luxury problem, and that's very true to some extent. But then we've got to manage it in the right way, make sure that the rules of engagement are quite clear in terms of what we want the drivers to do and where the line is. Make sure they don't make contact and make sure we don't cost the team overall points with how they race on track.

"But when things do happen, keep communicating, keep talking about it and not let things either fester or not get addressed. Put it all on the table, work out what we think about it, even if we don't always all agree on everything, and then move forward from there."

Antonelli's fourth consecutive grand prix win saw the 19-year-old Italian move 43 points clear of Russell in the championship as Mercedes continues investigation the Briton's costly power unit failure, which caused his car to shut down on lap 30.