Wolff fumes at 'couch warriors' questioning Mercedes' treatment of Russell

George Russell was beaten by his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the Italian Grand Prix after the pair were put on different strategies; watch the Spanish Grand Prix from the all-new Madring circuit live on Sky Sports F1 at 2pm on Sunday, with build-up from 12.30pm

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has dismissed suggestions from "couch warriors" that the Silver Arrows failed to treat George Russell fairly during the Italian Grand Prix.

Russell was narrowly leading the race from his team-mate Kimi Antonelli when Mercedes took a decision to pit the Italian under a virtual safety car.

The call ultimately benefitted Antonelli as he used his fresh tyres to pull off a stunning victory having started from 19th on the grid, which increased Russell's deficit to the Italian at the top of the standings to 66 points.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 ahead of qualifying at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, Wolff reiterated his belief that the fact Antonelli was running on a medium tyre and Russell a hard tyre completely justified the decision.

"It's absolutely the right thing we did," Wolff said. "He (Russell) was on the hard. It was predicted to be a one-stop as the better strategy.

"The medium was a compromise; we had to put the medium on Kimi because he started on the hard.

"There is just no way, and obviously there are some couch warriors that will drop their comments after having watched some other material online… saying that he was penalised is complete bull****."

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