Revealed: What George Russell and Kimi Antonelli told Mercedes during meeting after F1 Canadian GP clash

The Mercedes Formula 1 team has shed light on what was said between Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell after their clash at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Antonelli and Russell went wheel-to-wheel for the first time in 2026 across the weekend in Montreal, with their first scrap occurring  in the sprint race. The Mercedes duo twice clashed, prompting a series of angry radio messages from Antonelli.

This led to the team conducting an internal review into its rules of engagements ahead of Sunday’s main grand prix, for which Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff laid out its ground rules.

Mercedes has now shared some insight into the conversations that took place during a team meeting which followed the sprint race, and what the drivers asked from the team.

"After the sprint, there was a sit down and a chat with Toto and the two drivers just talking about how the sprint had gone and how they wanted to race each other going forward," deputy team principal Bradley Lord said on Mercedes' Nu Silver Arrows podcast.

"I think Kimi referred to it as a little bit like being called to the headmaster's or the principal's office. That was actually a very constructive and very amicable conversation, but the message from the drivers was really, really clear. 'Trust us to race each other. That's what you've hired us to do, and we can do it'."

Antonelli and Russell continued their intense battle in Sunday’s grand prix and regularly swapped positions for the lead over the course of the opening 30 laps. The duel only came to an end when Russell suddenly stopped on track due to a power unit failure.

"Most of it is absolutely fine, and you always want to let the drivers race,” Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin added.

“If the team is doing a good job, you've had the right conversations beforehand, and you don't have to interfere. There were a couple of points there where it got too close for comfort. There was one point where it looked like one could have ended up going into the back of the other, which we will do everything we can to try and avoid.

"But the two of them want to be allowed to race. They know that they need to deliver on their end of the bargain, which is to race fairly, race without risking DNF. Don't hit each other. We had good discussions during the weekend. We'll have good discussions ahead of the next race.”