Toto Wolff bashes 'brainless' F1 fans over 'hilarious' Mercedes claims

Toto Wolff has taken aim at the "brainless" accusations that Mercedes favours Kimi Antonelli over George Russell in decisions taken at Mercedes throughout the F1 season.

Wolff vehemently defended his team, calling such suggestions "completely nonsensical" after a fresh volley of allegations online following the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, where Russell suffered a power unit failure.

The British driver has experienced considerable bad luck this year, but the misfortune has not been isolated to his half of the Mercedes garage.

Kimi Antonelli has been hit by issues at times, notably in Spain and at Silverstone, and critical reliability problems have plagued the young Italian and Russell in two grands prix apiece.

It must be said that Russell has experienced more niggling issues on his W17, but that alone does not explain his 84-point deficit to his team-mate in the F1 drivers' standings.

The 28-year-old has struggled for pace more often, and there has been a clear performance gap between the pair for much of the campaign.

"They're brainless, whoever thinks that," Wolff told media, including RacingNews365. "It's completely nonsensical.

"We've had it in the past with Lewis fans... like literally, I don't know what's going on? Do they think I have a button that says 'George engine failure now', or that I'm disadvantaging one driver against the other when we're fighting for a constructors' championship?"

Wolff says he is 'Satan' to some vocal critics online

After the six-time constructors' champions struggled with its latest upgrade package at the Sepang International Circuit, Russell and Antonelli will do an A/B test between the old specification car and the new one in Singapore.

That back-to-back profile will help the team establish which direction to develop in for next year and how it integrates the new parts for the rest of the current season.

Russell will take the old spec which won in Madrid and Baku for the weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, whilst Antonelli will try and tame the new.

"We've always had the mindset of providing everybody with equal material, but I guess this is maybe where social media goes today," Wolff insisted before making light of some of the criticisms levied towards him online.

"People hide behind their screens, and then they lash out. There's a lot of polarisation going on.

"Sometimes I read what people write. I find it hilarious. These people really contribute to my own entertainment when they're abusing the team or me. I'm Satan, I've heard. So, overall, funny."

The justification for the split approach lies in large part due to Russell being consigned to the back of the pack under the lights of the Southeast Asian city-state.

Antonelli took a grid penalty to replenish his power unit component pool at the Italian Grand Prix, where he won from P19 on the grid.

The plan for Russell was to take his corresponding grid drop over the Americas triple-header, to tie in with the arrival of the Brackley-based team's ADUO upgrade.

Due to the nature of the various reliability problems each driver has suffered, Antonelli can change elements without needing to take an additional grid penalty, whereas Russell will face a "double whammy", in the words of Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord, meaning the Briton will start at the back of this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix and also incur a grid drop when racing resumes in North America later this month.

"But really, zero understanding and respect for people who come up with these things," Wolff added. "They should, rather than watching Formula 1, they should do Teletubbies, or I don't know, some Mickey Mouses."