Wolff switches allegiance to Russell

Despite a very difficult start to the season for the Mercedes AMG F1 team, the German squad still has a few moves to make in the title race, notably with George Russell who is their leading driver. Indeed, Toto Wolff would never have had any doubts about the talent of the British driver, team mate of Lewis Hamilton this year, and now appears to be backing the younger man over Hamilton publically. 

At the start of the season, Mercedes AMG F1 is facing many difficulties on the track. The German team is still unable to find the right balance for its car with the new regulations that had been introduced in 2022. This is reflected in the results of Lewis Hamilton, who is sixth in the drivers’ standings and has taken himself out of the running for the world championship, appearing instead to prioritise a battle about wearing jewellery with the FIA.

 

However, his new teammate, George Russell, is undoubtedly Mercedes’ only real ray of hope this season. Indeed, Lewis Hamilton’s compatriot is fourth in the overall standings and can still claim top spots. This is something that Toto Wolff is particularly pleased about, as he reveals that he has never had any doubts about George Russell’s level. Indeed, the Austrian team managers’ rhetoric appears to have switched over to backing Russell, choosing to ignore Hamilton’s FIA squabble. 

 

“We never had any doubts that he would be very good,” confirms Wolff when praising Russell,

“When you look at George’s track record, winning the F3 title in his rookie year and then in F2, we knew he was very good,”

Certainly, Wolff knows that Russell could handle an ill designed F1 car after several years of trying to put his Williams into the points. A feat he achieved in the last year with Williams. No doubt this ‘schooling’ prepared Russell well for the poor W13 Mercedes he has been handed.

“And then obviously the Williams school added its part, so we never had any doubt that he would be very good,” confirms Wolff.

 

“You can see that materialise on the track,” continues Wolff who is perhaps enjoying the lack of ‘massaging’ and ‘nursing’ he has to publically do with Russell’s rather emotional team mate,

“I really like his approach. He’s very rational, whether he’s fastest in P2 or eleventh, it’s just a matter of him applying the science and trying to make the car faster,” the Mercedes boss said.

 

 

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17 thoughts on “Wolff switches allegiance to Russell”

  1. What is an allegence? I need to know.
    Hopefully you aren’t referring to an allegiance? I know a reporter would do his/her due diligence and get the correct spelling.

    Reply
  2. Well W13 says it all …lam not superstitious but I isn’t playing right for Lewis and Mercedes….There is never a seat 13 on a plane or a table thirteen in a restaurant

    Reply
    • Absolutely. It has nothing to do with the change in regulations, limited wind tunnel time, a whole new design of the car and some unpredictable behaviour. It is just the number 13. If they’d put 14 on the car instead, all these problems would never have happened…

      Reply
    • “Never” ?
      Total BS. No.13 means nothing to huge parts of the world. No.4 is unlucky in Chinese speaking countries, not 13.

      Expand your knowledge.

      Reply
  3. I wholeheartedly agree, the W13 is clearly the 3rd fastest car on the grid and the fact that sir Lulu is failing so badly against George makes it clear who is the most skilled.

    Reply
  4. As I have previously stated here; I have been an avid F1 fan since the Stirling Moss era.
    It was a wonderful sport. Now it is a shambles. continual rule changes, teams bad mouthing others, rules broken. It would seem that rules are changed yearly because teams are always winning, and we cannot have that ?? Why not ? Now we have too much off the track fighting. How did we ever get to this situation. I really do not enjoy F1 anymore. V8s and Indy seem much better viewing. I think the last race in 2021 did it for me. A total ‘cock up’ & non compliance with the rules.

    Reply
  5. Big surprise… another “Hit piece”… Lewis have not had the rub of the green so far… but it can change very quickly. Except for Imola, he was not below George’s level. I am glad have now stated that Toto is supporting George. This way, when Lewis comes back nobody can say he got preferential treatment. Keep up the “good” work.

    Reply

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