George Russell and Kimi Antonelli issue Mercedes clear message: 'It's what you hired us for'

Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord has revealed that George Russell and Kimi Antonelli issued a clear message to the outfit following an intense Montreal Sprint: fighting hard is "what you've hired us to do".

Clear-the-air discussions were required ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix after the Mercedes duo almost came to blows, with Antonelli having gone off the circuit twice.

Russell and Antonelli battled hard for Sprint victory, but it was the former who came out on top. Lando Norris split the Mercedes pair due to Antonelli's second off-track excursion.

The 19-year-old was left furious with his team-mate following an incident while fighting into the first corner, where he felt he was not given enough room and had to take to the grass.

Antonelli argued over the radio that Russell should be penalised before Mercedes boss Toto Wolff instructed the Italian to save his complaints for afterwards.

It was the first truly heated battle between the Brackley-based outfit's two drivers, who stressed to Mercedes afterwards in a meeting that they wanted to be trusted to race each other.

"After the Sprint in Canada, there was a sit down and a chat with Toto as well with the two drivers," Lord said on the Nu Silver Arrows radio show. "They talked about how the Sprint had gone and how they want to race each other going forward. 

"Kimi referred to it as a little bit like being called to the headmaster’s of the principal's office. That again was a very constructive and very amicable conversation. The message from the drivers was clear. Trust us to race each other. 

"That's what you've hired us to do and we can do it. And we're capable of doing it and making sure that that racing is always happening with the interests of Mercedes foremost, not just the individual priorities of each driver."

Mercedes recognise 'important to talk'

For Mercedes, it is the first time it has had to hold such discussions since Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg raced for the outfit.

There is significant attention on both Russell and Antonelli due to the car they have, which looks more than capable of winning both championships this season. However, with that comes added pressure on the team.

"It was important to talk, important to have those incidents and to recognise what's at stake this year," added Lord.

"They are racing for wins at each race weekend so far, potentially for a championship if we can continue this form further into the season, so it is important for the team as well to recognise that this is their life dream.

"That they've worked all these years in karting, through the junior formula and now into F1. You have to respect the magnitude of that challenge for the drivers as well. I think we came out of it in a pretty good place. As we saw on Sunday, there was some awesome racing."