George Russell was anything but happy during the race in Brazil – Why Toto Wolff couldn’t care less that he vented his anger on the radio
George Russell provided some entertainment on race Sunday in Brazil – albeit involuntarily. Because while things were not going well at all for Mercedes, the Brit got into it with his team several times on the radio because he wasn’t happy
The specific issue was that he was repeatedly stuck behind his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. “Are we working together here or is everyone driving their own race?” Russell wanted to know at one point in the race, for example.
It was not the first time that there had been disagreements at Mercedes in recent weeks. Back in Suzuka, Hamilton and Russell did not quite see eye to eye in some situations, and they even collided at the start in Qatar two weekends later.
“It’s a complete sideshow,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff after the Brazil race. He emphasized that he also had no problem with the fact that the news about Russell had been broadcast live on TV.
“I think the race and the messages [on the radio] are completely irrelevant for us today. There was nothing to manage, nothing to say,” he clarifies and emphasizes: “The fundamental problem is that the car was slow.”
After Mercedes had already failed to finish higher than P4 and P7 in the sprint in Sao Paulo, Hamilton only finished the race in eighth place on Sunday, while Russell did not even see the chequered flag
Mercedes took the Briton out of the race 14 laps before the end because his car got too hot. Wolff therefore emphasizes after the overall messed-up weekend: “So I have no problem if something is sent [from the radio] or not.”
“Whether it’s controversial or not, if there’s no performance like here, who cares?” said the Austrian. In 2022, Mercedes celebrated its only win of the season in Brazil and its last Formula 1 triumph to date.
This year was a far cry from that, as Hamilton finished more than a minute behind race winner Max Verstappen. George Russell’s radio is therefore the least of Toto Wolff’s problems after the weekend, according to his own statement.
