Kimi Antonelli is very upset and wants punishment after an incident with his teammate George Russell during the Canada GP sprint.
Kimi Antonelli was really upset after a clash with his Mercedes teammate George Russell during the Canadian Grand Prix sprint race.
Kimi just missed out on pole position in a tricky sprint qualifying session, with Russell beating him by only 0.068 seconds after a long red flag caused by Fernando Alonso’s crash.
The two teammates didn’t see eye to eye during Saturday’s sprint race, which ended with a clash on the track and team boss Toto Wolff stepping in.
On lap 6, Antonelli tried an ambitious move to pass Russell, the race leader, and then tried again to get past. But he went off the track and lost his position to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Kimi quickly told his team on the radio that Russell had pushed him off the track. He said, “That was really naughty. I was right next to his wing mirror, that should be a penalty.”
His race engineer, Peter Bonnington, tried to calm him down, saying, “Let’s stay cool, focus on Norris and keep driving.”
Kimi shot back, “I don’t care, he pushed me off.”
Toto Wolff also jumped on the radio, reminding Kimi, “Please focus on driving and not complaining on the radio.”
Russell managed to keep his lead and win the race, while Antonelli couldn’t catch Norris for second place. The two drivers shook hands briefly at the end before going to the podium.
Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle said after watching the footage carefully that he understands why Kimi thought he deserved some space on the track.
After the race, Antonelli said he’d watch the replay but still felt it was his turn to take. He said, “It was a tough fight, everyone had similar pace. I tried to make my move, but got pushed off. I also made a big mistake at turn eight, which hurt my race, but it was a good battle.”
Russell smiled and replied, “It’s hard to get a gap here. It was a good battle with Kimi. I’m just glad we are both okay after the race.”