Wolff tells critics to ‘watch Teletubbies or Mickey Mouse not F1’ as he defends Mercedes strategy | Mercedes GP

Toto Wolff has condemned accusations of bias in the way he handled his drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with the Mercedes team principal describing those who put forward such theories as being more comfortable watching “The Teletubbies or Mickey Mouse” rather than Formula 1.

With Antonelli leading Russell by 84 points in the world championship heading into this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, the Italian’s first title is within his reach. The 20-year-old drove superbly in only his second season in F1, but Russell was plagued by bad luck and reliability issues which thwarted his championship challenge.

At the final round in Malaysia, an engine failure cost Russell a potential podium spot and led to widespread online accusations of bias towards Antonelli. Speaking in Singapore, Wolff’s exasperation was clear.

“They are stupid, anyone who thinks that, it’s complete nonsense,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on. Do they think I have a button that says: ‘George, engine failure now’? Or putting one driver at a disadvantage over the other as we fight for the constructors’ championship when we’ve always had the mentality of providing everyone with the same equipment?”

“There’s a lot of polarization and sometimes I read what people write. I find it hilarious. These people really contribute to my own entertainment when they abuse the team or myself. I’m Satan, I’ve heard. So, overall funny. But really, no understanding and no respect for the people who invent these things. Rather than watching Formula 1, they should be doing Teletubbies or Mickey Mouse.”

Russell heads into Sunday night’s race at the Marina Bay circuit clinging to title contention. Not only did the engine failure cost him dearly in Malaysia, but it also forced him to use a new engine for this race and, with the resulting penalties, he will have to start from the back of the grid on a track where overtaking is extremely tricky.

Mercedes has further complications in Singapore. The improvements made to Malaysia did not prove effective and left the team somewhat perplexed as to why they were not delivered. They chose, with Russell’s approval, to share their options this weekend, with the British driver reverting to the specification he won with in Baku and Antonelli driving the new version in order to provide insight into the shortcomings of the developments.

During qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race, Russell was clearly enjoying his pre-upgrade race more than his teammate. He took second place on the grid with Antonelli only seventh, while Max Verstappen took an excellent pole to confirm his victory at Sepang. Antonelli certainly felt a little shell-shocked in Singapore with a car very different from what he is used to. “There is still a lot to understand about this package, the car is very difficult, very unpredictable,” he said. “I arrived with high hopes but so far it has been very difficult. It will be a difficult weekend, it will be very tricky. I don’t see where we can find seven tenths.”

Mercedes is clear that it will continue to allow its drivers to compete against each other. Wolff, who managed three seasons of increasingly intense and rancorous rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg between 2014 and 2016, has always insisted he has practiced impartial management since joining F1. He cited a conversation he had with Alain Prost about his bitter rivalry with Ayrton Senna at McLaren in the 1980s.

“I remember being a real rookie and coming across Alain Prost on the grid of a race and I said to him: ‘Why did it go so badly between you and Senna?’ He said: “Because we never knew what the team was talking about. Once you felt like you were the flavor of the month, then two months later you thought politics was going against you. There were different situations where you felt like you really weren’t wanted.

“So I took it as a challenge to always keep a balance and it wasn’t easy with Lewis and Nico at the time. That’s why people can think what they want, but integrity in that regard is something that is important to me, and the drivers know that.

Russell admitted that Antonelli has done a better job overall this season, while noting that he would have expected to still be in the fight without some of the issues he suffered. He looked fast at the Marina Bay circuit on Friday, but still has a huge task ahead of him on Sunday.

Antonelli’s advantage is such that if he is 101 points ahead at the end of this meeting, he could become the youngest F1 world champion at the next round in Austin. A title, as Wolff would no doubt attest, which will have been won purely on merit.