<\/p>\n
The pair were involved in a close on-track battle during the 100 kilometre Sprint, which resulted in contact and a position loss for Antonelli. The incident prompted radio messages from Russell, who is leading the championship.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Speaking after qualifying for Sunday\u2019s race, Antonelli said discussions had taken place within the team. Antonelli said a conversation involving Russell and Team Principal Toto Wolff had clarified the situation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Antonelli said both drivers reviewed the incident and acknowledged mistakes. Antonelli said the team remains united, adding that both drivers are continuing to race under existing team principles.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Antonelli said drivers are free to compete while maintaining respect on track. The explanation comes as both drivers secured the front row for the main race, with Russell taking pole position ahead of Antonelli.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve produced a narrow gap between the two drivers, with Russell ahead by 0.068 seconds. Mercedes maintained a strong performance following the Sprint, where both drivers were also competitive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Antonelli said the qualifying session was challenging, particularly in managing tyre performance. Antonelli said conditions made it difficult to extract maximum pace, adding that the final lap left limited opportunity to improve.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Antonelli said Russell\u2019s lap secured pole position, while Antonelli will start alongside on the front row. The result places both drivers in contention for the race.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The incident during the Sprint had drawn attention to intra-team dynamics, but Mercedes has indicated that internal issues have been addressed through discussions. The team has maintained its approach of allowing drivers to compete under controlled conditions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Attention will now focus on the race, where both drivers are expected to challenge for position from the start.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–F1\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":35291,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-35290","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Mercedes Driver Kimi Antonelli said the situation with teammate George Russell has been resolved following contact between the two during the Sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix.","published_date":"","news_description":"Mercedes Driver Kimi Antonelli said the situation with teammate George Russell has been resolved following contact between the two during the Sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35292,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35290\/revisions\/35292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=35290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}