Mercedes critics think I'm Satan - Wolff

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff says critics who accuse the team of bias against George Russell are "brainless".

The British driver's championship hopes were all but extinguished by an engine failure while he was running third at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia last Sunday.

Russell enters this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix 86 points behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli, and will start from the back because of a grid penalty for using too many engine parts.

Wolff described accusations of favouritism towards Antonelli as "completely nonsensical".

He added: "We've had it in the past with Lewis (Hamilton) fans.

"I mean, literally, I don't know what's going on. Do they think I have a button that says, 'George engine failure now', or disadvantaging one driver against the other when we are fighting for a Constructors' Championship, when we have always had the mindset of providing everybody equal material?

"But I guess this is maybe where social media goes today. People hide behind their screens and then they lash out.

"There's a lot of polarisation going on, and sometimes I read what people write. I find it hilarious. These people really contribute to my own entertainment when they are abusing the team or myself. I'm Satan, I've heard."

Wolff emphasised that he had always pursued a policy of equality between drivers since he took over the leadership of Mercedes in 2013.

He underlined his close personal relationship with Russell and Antonelli, who are both long-time proteges of the team and Wolff personally.

"We have had Kimi since he was 11," Wolff said. "He is an integral part of the team.

"It is very nice to see him grow, be in a position now that he is fighting for a championship at such a young age, the talent he has.

"And then on the other side, George, who has been with us since he was 17, someone that I feel a lot of, how can I say, emotions for and compassion. We are very close."

He said he and his wife Susie socialise with Russell and his fiancee Carmen Montero Mundt.

"We are spending time with Carmen and Susie off the track with each other," he said. "If people would see that we're travelling together, we're having coffee in the same coffee shop, we're going to the gym.

"That's why it's pretty annoying to have some lunatics that have no understanding really about how relationships work coming up with these kinds of accusations.

"So, I don't pay any attention to this. Most important is that George knows how the team is and Kimi knows, and we will always try to give them equal opportunity."

He said a "good example" of the equal treatment of both drivers was this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

The team has decided to split the specification of its cars at Marina Bay after an upgrade in Malaysia last weekend failed to provide the expected step forward in performance.

Russell is using the previous spec car and Antonelli the new one.

Wolff said: "We don't know which one is going to be quicker."

He said initial indications were that the "new car seems to be a little more tricky to drive - not saying it's necessarily slower, because there will be goodness in it, but maybe we haven't just found a way of putting it all together and tuning it.

"The older car is a bit more stable, grippy, but that is really just one data point. That is one free practice session, and it will be needing more time to really come to more conclusive information."

He said the success or otherwise of the upgrade, Mercedes' first significant change to the car's design since June, could have significant ramifications on Mercedes' preparations for 2027.

"We've put a few months of upgrades into the car, clearly pointing in a direction that we think is advantageous," Wolff said, "and maybe we just need to calibrate it a little bit in order to find the right way forward for 2027."