Toto Wolff says he half-enjoyed Kimi Antonelli and George Russell battle in the Canadian Grand Prix

However, in the end, the race gods interfered, and Russell retired with car trouble, which meant Antonelli drove to an assured win in Montreal.

The fight in the Canadian Grand Prix came just one day after Antonelli and Russell had a bitter fight in the Sprint Race, which included contact, and while it seemed both drivers were fighting more cleanly on Sunday, it was no doubt a nervous couple of hours for the Mercedes pit wall.

Wolff reflected on his drivers' battle and claimed Mercedes' dominant position compared to their rivals meant the team could allow their drivers to fight more.

He said: "As a team you have situations that are bittersweet. You are super happy for one driver and gutted for the other.

"We half enjoyed watching them, how they fought it out, and we wish we would have had a one and a two. Every time we thought to say we had had enough for the moment because we were losing time to Verstappen, the next two laps were fast again, and we were like, "Okay." But it can go wrong; you can lock up and take two cars out.

"It is a luxury problem; I hope we will go like this for much of the season, but you cannot discount the others, and if we were closer with the others, we would have to jump in and say you can't lose any more time," the Austrian stated.

Wolff hailed Antonelli for the job he did in Canada and told Sky Sports F1: "Kimi has done a splendid job today and deserved to win. It was a shame for George as he was leading.

"He has won four races in a row and has a 40-odd point lead, so he has to be confident. I don't think this will run away from him.

"He is very settled in what he does and the environment in the team, so I don't see the risks of what happened in Europe last year.

"We have 17 more races to go, so many points to score that this will go all the way to the end with, hopefully, both of our cars in the mix.

"We have to chip away, and George will rebound, no doubt," he concluded.

Antonelli now leads Russell by 43 points in the 2026 Formula 1 Drivers' Championship.