Wolff tells Mercedes critics to watch Teletubbies in bias row

Toto Wolff has told Formula One critics accusing Mercedes of favouring Kimi Antonelli over George Russell to switch off and watch the Teletubbies or Mickey Mouse instead.

The Mercedes team principal spoke in Singapore ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. He called suggestions the team would back one driver over the other “brainless” The Guardian.

The row centres on the championship gap between his two drivers. Antonelli leads Russell by 84 points going into the Singapore weekend.

Scepticism from some fans followed Mercedes’ decision to split its cars. In Singapore, Russell has gone back to the older specification he used to win in Baku, while Antonelli continues with the new upgrade package. The team said the upgrades introduced in Malaysia did not work as hoped.

That split looked odd on paper. Wolff said it was purely about learning. Mercedes will continue to let Russell and Antonelli race each other freely.

The timing added fuel. Russell suffered an engine failure at the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang that cost him a likely podium. Max Verstappen, driving for Red Bull, won that race.

Verstappen then took pole position for the Saturday sprint in Singapore, a short dash of about 100km that pays a handful of points on its own Reuters. Russell qualified second for that sprint. Antonelli was seventh.

Russell faces a tougher Sunday. He will start the main Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid after taking a new engine and the automatic penalty that goes with it. He has also warned he expects to take one more engine penalty later in the season as his title hopes fade.

For fans, this means the picture is mechanical, not political. One Mercedes is gathering data on a new package. The other is trying to salvage points with old parts and fresh engines.