Wolff rejects 'brainless' speculation that Mercedes favour Antonelli over Russell

[p][b]"They're brainless, whoever thinks that," [/b]Wolff told reporters when ‌asked what he would say to those who believe [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Antonelli[/a] ‌is being given advantageous treatment.[/p][p]Antonelli, who is running an upgraded car ‌on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, has won eight races ‌this season to his luckless teammate's three.[/p][p]He leads [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]Russell[/a], who retired at last week's race with a failed engine, by 84 points going into ‌the Singapore Grand Prix, where a penalty for ⁠going through his regulation ‌four engines will put Russell at the back of the starting grid.[/p][p]Favouritism ​is "completely nonsensical," Wolff said.[/p][p][b]"I've always tried since I came into Formula 1, even in my Williams days, to be ​the most balanced and the most transparent with the drivers,"[/b] he said, recalling a conversation years ago on the grid ⁠with Alain Prost about ​his arch-rival Ayrton Senna.[/p][embed guid="c65606ca-5294-4153-9995-0de43fcdaa2c" url="https://x.com/F1BigData/status/2108515063120162832" social-type="twitter" /][p]"I said: 'Just out of interest, why did it go so wrong between you and Senna?' And he said: 'Because we never knew what the team was about.'[/p][p][b]"So, I took it as ‌my challenge to keep it always balanced. And it was not easy with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Lewis[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rosberg-nico/ne6Roynn/"]Nico[/a] back in the day,"[/b] he said, referring to tension between then-teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes under Wolff a decade ago.[/p][p]This week, the team has reverted Russell to an older car setup in Singapore and he set the fastest time in Friday's practice session.[/p][p][b]"We have had Kimi since he was 11 ... (and) George, who's been with ‌us since he was 17,"[/b] said Wolff.[b] "We are very close.[/b][/p][p]"That's ​why it's pretty annoying to have some lunatics that have ‌no understanding, really, about how relationships work, coming up with these kind of accusations.[/p][p][b]"Most important is that George knows how the team is and Kimi knows. We will always try to give them equal opportunity, and when it comes ⁠to the upgrade, it's a ⁠good example - we don't ‌know which one is going to be quicker."[/b][/p]