• No team orders for championship-leading Mercedes pair

• Wolff says approach could change in latter stages of season

Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, leaders of the Formula One world championship in a dominant Mercedes car, are “absolutely off the leash” to race one another, their team principal, Toto Wolff, has said.

Antonelli won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, the 19-year-old’s second victory on the trot and with Russell managing only fourth, the Italian now leads his teammate by nine points.

The F1 world championship leader on how he learned to channel youthful frustration at the back of the grid and the mental strength he gains from those closest to him

George Russell endured a baptism of fire, battling a recalcitrant Williams car at the back end of the grid in his debut Formula One season. Yet the then 21-year-old was perceptive from the off, observing at that season’s British Grand Prix: “In F1 it’s not just about driving, it’s about the whole package.” Seven years later, he believes the package is all but complete, leading the world championship standings and a strong favourite to go on to win his first title.

Russell heads into this weekend’s Japanese GP with a win and second place from the first two races and – thanks also to a sprint victory in China – has a four-point advantage over his teenage Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli. With their car thus far the class of the field, Russell has demonstrated the calm, assured control and execution long-promised by his talent. The attitude he takes into his title tilt was fashioned from that time at Williams and later Mercedes.

Flamboyant Briton won his first and only world championship in dramatic fashion in Japan in the last race of the 1976 season

Niki Lauda once described James Hunt as “one of my few real friends in racing”, the great rivals sharing a genuine bond even as they fought fiercely for the Formula One world championship in 1976.

Its destination was decided at the Japanese Grand Prix – where the sport heads for the third race of this season on Sunday – with this year marking the 50th anniversary of an extraordinary contest when Hunt won his only F1 title in an engrossing finale.