George Russell: Toto Wolff says radio message to Austrian GP winner was stupidest moment of his F1 career

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted a poorly timed radio message to George Russell during the final stages of his Austrian Grand Prix victory was ‘the stupidest thing’ he ever did in Formula 1.

Russell was 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 suffering damage that took him out of the race.

In his excitement at the sight of the collision between Verstappen and Norris, Wolff immediately spoke to Russell via the Mercedes team radio, forgetting to follow the usual protocol of checking that his driver was in an appropriate place on the circuit to receive a message.

Russell responded sharply to Wolff telling his boss to “let him drive” in a message that included an expletive.

“I think I know the drivers pretty well and what they need at certain times to encourage them or to refocus, because I spend so much time with them, so I think I know their psychology,” Wolff said .

“But it’s the stupidest thing I’ve done in 20 years at Mercedes. I will always be ashamed of it. Because you watch where you send a message to the driver, you don’t do it when braking or cornering at high speed.

“And I didn’t look on the GPS where he was. I just saw these two fighting and we anticipated it and then we just emotionally pushed the button and said, ‘ We can win this.”

“And I could have eliminated him with this message. Imagine how I would have felt.

“I’m emotional, I appreciate that we’re doing well and I love seeing Lewis (Hamilton) and George doing well and I just got swept up in that situation. And I think that’s what he said after , but seriously, (it was) embarrassing.”

After claiming only the second grand prix win of his F1 career, Russell said he was almost disheartened by Wolff’s message but understood his boss was coming from the right place.

“He just yelled in my ear,” Russell said Sky Sports F1. “I almost crashed when it happened.

“It shows the passion that we all have. The team has put in a lot of effort recently. Everyone in the factory has been working overtime to make improvements to the car earlier. Sometimes you don’t feel like you’re being rewarded for that effort, and today we did.

Russell: I thought Piastri was going to catch me.

Despite taking the lead with just eight laps remaining, Russell looked far from assured of victory, with Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri showing strong pace behind him.

Ultimately, a virtual safety car, called by the race director to allow debris from the Verstappen-Norris collision to be cleared, brought crucial relief to Russell.

“I thought he (Piastri) was going to catch me, to be honest, but I think catching is one thing, overtaking is another,” Russell said.

“Yesterday I had Carlos behind me for 10 laps with my DRS, and I was also behind Carlos for about eight laps with his DRS, and overtaking was not easy. So I knew, I just said to myself: ‘do what you do best, no heroics, and you will win this race.’

“That VSC helped me a little bit because my tires were overheating. And it just allowed me to cool them down.”

Russell eventually came home just under two seconds ahead of Piastri, who continues to seek his first Grand Prix victory.

The 25 points acquired by Russell did not alter his seventh place in the drivers’ standings, but allowed him to move within one point of Piastri ahead of him.

F1’s summer triple-header concludes with the biggest, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Watch every session live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase, with Sunday’s race at 3pm. Stream all F1 races and more with a monthly NOW Sports subscription – No contract, cancel at any time