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Motorsport

Christian Nimmervoll

Who slept worst last night: Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff George Russell Nico Rosberg Kimi Antonelli Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 Oscar Piastri

It has been quite a while since I last wrote a column. Back in September 2025, Oscar Piastri’s title hopes began to unravel just as my spine decided to turn sitting at a desk into pure misery. Now I’m back - and it feels a little as though I’ve woken up inside a time machine.

You could almost believe it’s 2014, 2015 or 2016 all over again. The "new Formula 1" is once more defined by increased electrification, much to the frustration of purists like myself. Mercedes has interpreted the new regulations better than anyone else and built the strongest power unit. Honda, meanwhile, appears to have got it badly wrong. And the fiercest battles are once again unfolding between the two Mercedes drivers themselves. Only this time they are no longer called Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, but George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

Toto Wolff must feel a little like he’s starring in Part II of Back to the Future. Hamilton and Rosberg entered the 2014 season as best friends, only to emerge from 2015 as bitter rivals. Is Mercedes now watching the same movie play out again, simply with a different cast in the roles of Marty and Biff? Judging by what happened in Canada, there are plenty of signs that Russell and Antonelli may have delivered only the first of many sleepless nights for their team boss.

On Sunday evening in Montreal, shortly before boarding a private jet with Russell, Wolff muttered something about disliking it when drivers lose their heads over team radio and attract the attention of the stewards: "But other than that, I think they behaved like race drivers that race for a championship. So I wouldn't be able to see a fault in that."

For almost 30 laps, the Canadian Grand Prix of 2026 brought back vivid memories of Hamilton and Rosberg’s epic duel in Bahrain 2014 - another race in which things became tense on several occasions, yet somehow never crossed the line into disaster. Wolff allowed the fight to continue back then, and he did so again this time. Even if he admitted with a grin in an interview with ServusTV: "I don't know... If I have to watch too many races like this, maybe I should think about slowing down a little."

The memories of 2014-16 clearly still linger. Back then, too, everything started with fierce but fair battles that thrilled millions of fans worldwide. Eventually, however, Mercedes management introduced strict internal rules governing wheel-to-wheel combat, even reaching the point where drivers had to pay for bodywork damage they caused themselves.

The moment the rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg hit a new level of intensity (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

What began harmlessly in Bahrain 2014 eventually escalated into a series of mini-disasters. In Belgium later that year, Rosberg punctured Hamilton’s tyre with his front wing. In Spain 2016, the pair famously eliminated each other from the race - opening the door for a certain Max Verstappen to claim his maiden grand prix victory. A few weeks later in Canada, Rosberg dropped back after contact at the start. Then came Austria, where they collided once again.

Wolff has never hidden the fact that he would rather avoid experiencing such an explosive internal rivalry for a second time. When Mercedes needed a replacement for Rosberg at the end of 2016, he opted for the dependable Valtteri Bottas rather than the more combustible Pascal Wehrlein, who might well have reignited the entire saga from the very beginning.

And yet here he is again, caught in what feels remarkably like the same story: two drivers who present themselves publicly as friends, but between whom tensions will almost inevitably erupt sooner or later. For one simple reason: both are exceptionally talented.

There are, however, important differences compared to a decade ago. First, Mercedes no longer enjoys the luxury of freely turning the power unit up and down to manage a comfortable advantage over the rest of the field. If Russell and Antonelli focus more on beating each other than serving the interests of the team - as they arguably did during Saturday’s sprint - the chasing pack is never far away, waiting for any opportunity to capitalise.

Second, this time it is not the established driver who appears to possess that final fraction of outright pace, but the newcomer. Whenever Antonelli found himself behind Russell in Montreal, Russell seemed to be under enormous pressure. Whenever Antonelli managed to get ahead, the intensity of the fight suddenly appeared to fade.

Perhaps the comparison really does fit: Russell in the Rosberg role, Antonelli in the Hamilton role - two extraordinary racing drivers, one of whom may possess just a touch more raw natural talent. That does not mean Russell cannot still become world champion. Rosberg, after all, managed to claim one title out of three opportunities through sheer determination and relentless effort.

Russell and Antonelli came close to repeating Hamilton and Rosberg's 2016 Spanish GP clash (Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

Wolff must now decide whether there are lessons from a decade ago that could help Mercedes avoid a repeat of the Barcelona nightmare. Perhaps it is time to dust off those old internal guidelines that have been sitting in a drawer for years. Ultimately, though, he will almost certainly continue to let them race. He is smart enough to understand that a genuine driver-against-driver rivalry is the stuff of legend far more than a championship manipulated from the pitwall. And in a Formula 1 that already faces intense scrutiny from traditionalists, that matters more than ever.

How will it all end? I honestly don’t know. But betting against Russell and Antonelli eventually colliding somewhere down the road would feel like a bold prediction.

And yet, despite the current 43-point gap between them, and despite Antonelli perhaps being the slightly quicker Mercedes driver overall, anyone declaring the championship already decided still hasn’t fully understood F1 after all these years. When health issues forced me away from writing in 2025, Oscar Piastri seemed to have one hand on the world championship trophy. In the end, it was Lando Norris who became champion.

That was September. We are only in May now. There is still plenty of time left for dramatic twists in the 2026 F1 season - and for a few more sleepless nights for Wolff.