Antonelli, Russell promise smarter racing but no backing off after Canada clash

MONACO, June 4 : Championship leader Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes team mate George Russell said they will continue fighting wheel to wheel in this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix despite team boss Toto Wolff warning he might have to apply the handbrake.

At last month's Canadian Grand Prix, 19-year-old Antonelli was left fuming after contact between the pair during the sprint race won by Russell. 

The following day in the main race they locked horns again in a battle for the lead before Russell retired with a power unit failure, handing Antonelli his fourth successive victory.

While admitting it was "good cinema" Wolff said their duel had cost them both time and that he would be forced to intervene if they were putting team points at stake.

Antonelli said discussions had taken place a couple of days before arriving in Monaco to review what happened in Canada.

"Basically, the end of the discussion was that you can race each other fairly as long as there is respect and you don't put yourselves in a situation where you could damage one of you or both of you," the Italian told reporters on Thursday.

"The team doesn't want to put rules, but understandably they want both cars to finish and to get as many points as possible. That is in our minds as well because we race for ourselves to be the best but also we race for the team to reward the 2,000 people who work for the team."

"We'll keep racing each other like in Canada but a bit more smartly. But definitely the team wants us to race freely because you can't really put a leash on a driver."

Britain's Russell, who won the opening Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne but has since fallen 43 points behind Antonelli, insisted there were no concerns.

"We have to be trusted and this is what we