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Toto Wolff couldn’t conceal his anguish in his post-race radio message to Kimi Antonelli after the British Grand Prix.
Antonelli was on course to win the race as he hunted down Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc with a 10-lap tyre offset, but then the wheel shield on the left side of his Mercedes broke.
Mercedes called Antonelli into the pits twice as he struggled to turn the car, but he insisted on continuing despite being told to retire. By the time the problems eased, he had already exceeded track limits multiple times and fallen to the periphery of the points.
Toto Wolff laments Kimi Antonelli’s ‘awesome’ pace being wasted
Antonelli’s five-second penalty demoted him from ninth place to 16th at the chequered flag. In the space of just over 10 laps, he had gone from an almost surefire victory to a bottom-five finish.
His lead over teammate George Russell, who was elevated to a fortunate P2, was reduced to 25 points. And in the constructors’, Ferrari narrowed Mercedes’ lead to 78 after a one-three finish.
How has the British Grand Prix changed your outlook on the F1 title race?
Mercedes have confirmed that Antonelli wasn’t at fault for the damage, so this goes down as yet another reliability issue after retirements in Canada and Barcelona.
Speaking on the radio after the race, Wolff said: “Kimi, f—, s—, f—, s—, but it is how it is. Pace was f—— awesome, but of course, that doesn’t make it any better now.”
Engineer Peter Bonnington had made similar comments moments earlier: “Really sorry about that mate. That was a s— way to end the day.”
There was no reply from the 19-year-old driver to either of the messages.
On the other side of the garage, Wolff shut down Russell’s complaints over straight-line speed during the cool-down lap. He didn’t congratulate him on his podium either, though the Briton himself acknowledged he had been fortunate.
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