Toto Wolff Mulls Over Mercedes Team Orders as Hamilton and Ferrari Loom Large

Toto Wolff, the man at the helm of Mercedes, is facing a rather delicate balancing act. After Lewis Hamilton's triumph in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Wolff is contemplating a rethinking of team dynamics, particularly how George Russell and Kimi Antonelli engage each other on the track. The reason? Hamilton, now with Ferrari, is closing in fast.

The recent Grand Prix saw Russell and Antonelli in yet another heated contest. Antonelli managed to pass Russell late in the race, only to run into mechanical troubles, allowing Russell to secure P2. This wasn't their first tussle. Earlier in Canada, the duo clashed again, with Russell retiring from the lead and Antonelli taking the win. Even in the Canada Sprint, they went wheel-to-wheel, with Antonelli briefly taking to the grass.

Wolff described their Canadian skirmish as "just acceptable," but the Barcelona race was a wake-up call. It marked the first 2026 Grand Prix that Mercedes didn't win, as Hamilton claimed victory for Ferrari, cutting his championship deficit to Antonelli to just 41 points. The intra-team squabble between Russell and Antonelli cost Mercedes precious seconds, enough for Hamilton to leapfrog back into the lead after a pit stop under a Virtual Safety Car.

"They raced each other quite hard before George's stop," Wolff told Sky Sports F1. "We lost several seconds to Lewis, and with the VSC, it changed the order. We try to race fair in the team, but maybe it cost us the win today. That's something we need to discuss with the drivers—how to handle it if we're fighting someone else for a win."

Wolff acknowledges there's now a third party in the championship battle—Hamilton and Ferrari. "We need to discuss internally with the drivers how to avoid holding each other up," he said. "It's not a problem, but maybe a recalibration is needed."

As the season progresses, the Mercedes camp will be keen to iron out these wrinkles. With Hamilton's resurgence and Ferrari's newfound pace, Wolff knows that any internal friction could be the difference between winning and losing championships.