Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted a mistimed radio message to George Russell during the closing stages of his Austrian Grand Prix victory was “the dumbest thing” he has ever done in Formula 1.
Russell was running in third when leader Max Verstappen collided with second-placed Lando Norris, with the Red Bull driver forced to pit with a puncture and the McLaren sustaining damage that put him out of the race.
In his excitement at seeing the collision between Verstappen and Norris, Wolff immediately spoke to Russell over the Mercedes team radio, forgetting to go through the usual protocol of checking that his driver was at an appropriate point of the circuit to receive a message.
Russell curtly responded to Wolff telling his boss to “let him drive” in a message that included an expletive.
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Highlights of the Austrian Grand Prix from Red Bull Ring.
“I think I know the drivers pretty well and what they need at times to encourage or to refocus, because I spend so much time with them, so I think I know their psychology,” Wolff said.
“But this one is the single dumbest thing I’ve done in 20 years at Mercedes. I will be forever ashamed of this. Because you look at where you message the driver, you don’t do it on braking or in high-speed corners.
“And I didn’t look on the GPS where he was. I just saw these two taking each other out and we anticipated it and then just emotionally pushed the button and said, ‘we can win this’.
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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff congratulated George Russell for keeping himself almost
“And I could have taken him out with that message. Imagine how that would have felt.
“I’m emotional, I enjoy us doing well and I enjoy seeing Lewis (Hamilton) and George doing well and I was just carried away with that situation. And I think that’s what he said afterwards, but seriously, (it was) embarrassing.”
After claiming just the second grand prix victory of his F1 career, Russell said that he was nearly put off by Wolff’s message, but understood his boss was coming from a good place.
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Mercedes driver George Russell gave Ted Kravitz a ‘champagne shower’ after his win at the Austrian Grand Prix.
“He just screamed in my ear,” Russell told Sky Sports F1. “I almost crashed when it happened.
“It goes to show the passion that we all have. The team put so much effort in recently. Everyone in the factory has been working overtime to bring upgrades to the car earlier. Sometimes you don’t feel like you get a reward for this effort, and today we did.”
Russell: I thought Piastri was going to catch me
Despite being gifted the lead with just eight laps to go, Russell appeared far from assured of victory, with Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri showing strong pace behind him.
Ultimately, a virtual safety car, called by the race director to allow the debris resulting from the Verstappen-Norris collision to be cleared, provided crucial relief for Russell.
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George Russell wins the Austrian Grand Prix after Lando Norris and Max Verstappen collided.
“I thought he (Piastri) was going to catch me, to be honest, but I think catching is one thing, overtaking is another,” Russell said.
“So I had Carlos behind me for 10 laps yesterday in my DRS, and I was also behind Carlos for about eight laps in his DRS, and overtaking wasn’t straightforward. So I knew, I just sort of said to myself, ‘do what you do best, no heroics, and you’ll win this race.’
“That VSC helped marginally because my tyres were overheating. And that just allowed me to cool them down.”
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After the collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, Mercedes driver George Russell was ecstatic to capitalise and claim victory at Red Bull Ring.
Russell ultimately came home just short of two seconds clear of Piastri, who continues to search for his maiden grand prix victory.
The 25 points Russell earned didn’t alter the seventh place he holds in the drivers’ standings, but did enable him to close to within a point of Piastri above him.
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