Toto Wolff reminds Mercedes F1 drivers of 'responsibility' to 150,000 people

Toto Wolff has reminded George Russell and Kimi Antonelli that the "team is always bigger than the drivers" as they gear up for their expected title battle.

As expected, Mercedes has been the dominant team in the 2026 season, with three wins from three races, plus the Chinese GP Sprint. 

Antonelli leads Russell by nine points heading into the season's resumption in Miami as the two prepare to fight for their first world drivers' championship title over the remainder of the season.

However, Mercedes has previous experience of when an intra-team battle goes wrong, with the iconic Lewis Hamilton vs Nico Rosberg rivalry of 2014-2016, with the team memorably wiping each other out of the 2016 Spanish GP as tensions came to a boiling point.

A decade on, Wolff is keen to learn the lessons from that fight, and sent Russell and Antonelli a warning regarding 150,000 people. 

"The oddity in Formula 1 is that the two team-mates are also the biggest competitors, and we have learned a lot over the last 10 plus years on how to best handle these situations," Wolff told media, including RacingNews365. 

"But best handling means also letting them race and acknowledging the fact that they race, but there are certain values that we stand for in the team.

"The team is always bigger than the drivers. It is Mercedes, so one of the most formidable brands in the world, the best car brand in the world. We have 150,000 people that work for us, a company that has existed for more than 120 years. 

"Having the opportunity to race, to be one of the few selected to race for Mercedes, also comes with a responsibility for racing for Mercedes, and the moment the driver feels like this is all about him, that's not the mindset that we would ever allow in the team, and we've done that in the past.

"I would rather have only one car driving, but I think it will never come to that point, because our drivers have been so long into the Mercedes family, that they are part of that mindset and this philosophical approach and the legacy that we represent."