<\/p>\n
Russell secured pole position for the race, his third of the season, edging out Ferrari\u2019s Lewis Hamilton, while teammate Antonelli qualified third. The strong grid positions have raised the prospect of a close battle between the two Mercedes drivers, prompting Wolff to outline clear expectations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re racing for a championship, and Kimi will want to show that he\u2019s the one. George wants a good result to say \u2018I\u2019m the one, don\u2019t discount me\u2019,\u201d Wolff said. \u201cFor me, the primary thing is no contact.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The warning follows a recent clash between the Mercedes drivers at the Canadian Grand Prix and echoes the team\u2019s experience in 2016, when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collided at the same circuit in Spain, ending both drivers\u2019 races.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wolff said the opening stages of the race will be critical, particularly through the early corners at Barcelona.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cGet through Turn 1 and 2 and 3,\u201d he said. \u201cThen comes our famous corner\u2026 where I\u2019ve already had two cars stranded in the gravel bed in 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite the risks, Wolff indicated he does not intend to impose strict team orders, instead encouraging competitive but controlled racing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think conservatively, you need to think forwards and not start protecting points,\u201d he said, adding that Antonelli is likely to take an aggressive approach from the start.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mercedes also faces pressure from Ferrari, with Hamilton starting second after a strong qualifying performance. Wolff acknowledged that Ferrari\u2019s recent upgrades could pose a serious challenge.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cOur calculations showed that they\u2019re half a second off on a single lap\u2026 here they rebounded, and I guess their upgrade is working,\u201d Wolff said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to fasten our seatbelts\u2026 they are proper challengers.\u201d<\/p>\n
–F1\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37072,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-37071","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has urged George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to avoid on-track contact at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, as the team looks to prevent a repeat of past internal rivalries.","published_date":"","news_description":"Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has urged George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to avoid on-track contact at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, as the team looks to prevent a repeat of past internal rivalries.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37071","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\/37071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37073,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37071\/revisions\/37073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=37071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}