Toto Wolff dismisses Mercedes F1 star with brutal Imola team order

Toto Wolff has comically dismissed a request from George Russell after he delivered a pep talk to 18-year-old Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli ahead of the Imola Grand Prix.

The Italian will compete at his first home race in F1 this weekend, but team principal Toto Wolff will not be present in Emilia-Romagna to oversee Antonelli’s first outing in front of an Italian crowd.

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Instead, Antonelli has had to communicate with Wolff via a video call, where he told the youngster to ignore the pressure of the Italian media in an attempt to bolster his driver’s confidence ahead of his debut home race.

However, Antonelli’s team-mate Russell was also present for the talk, and cheekily piped up to ask where his ‘wise words’ from Wolff were.

Wolff - with the alarming authority his Austrian accent provides - quickly silenced Russell and delivered a brutal order to the Brit to look after his team-mate.

"You are 27 years old!" the team boss said firmly as Russell tried to contain his laughter.

"You are the senior driver in this team! You’ve seen it all. You’ve done it all. You can cope with that easier than an 18-year-old who [is at his] first Formula 1 grand prix in Bologna. In his hometown!

"You have got great support! He needs it more than you this weekend!"

Why is Toto Wolff absent from the Imola Grand Prix?

So, why is Toto Wolff delivering team orders from the safety of a video camera, as Antonelli bravely faces his home crowd for the first time?

The Mercedes team principal has a good excuse for missing the Imola GP, with the 53-year-old instead attending his son Benedict’s graduation in the United States.

Chief communications officer Bradley Lord will take over Wolff’s trackside duties in Imola, as he did back in April at the Japanese GP due to the team principal’s scheduled absence.

Wolff has gradually reduced the amount of races he attends on the F1 calendar over the years and has missed a select number of grands prix, including Russell’s first win at the 2022 Brazilian GP.

Should Antonelli acquire his first grand prix win in Imola, a strange but entirely coincidental pattern could emerge at the Mercedes team.

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