Russell's radio message is 'the stupidest thing I've done at Mercedes'

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admits a radio message he sent to George Russell during the Austrian Grand Prix was “the stupidest thing I’ve done in 12 years”.

Russell was a solid third but under pressure from Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri in the final moments of Sunday’s race, when Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided. This set the stage for a potential victory that Russell would take, but Wolff had jumped on the team radio to say “George, you can win!” ”, leading Russell to respond “Just let me drive!” » because of the timing.

“I think I know the drivers pretty well and I know what they need at certain moments to encourage them or to refocus, because I spend a lot of time with them,” Wolff said. “I think I know their psychology. But that one is the stupidest thing I’ve done in 12 years at Mercedes.

“I will always be ashamed because you look at where you send a message to the driver and you don’t do it while braking. Or in high-speed corners. But I didn’t look on the GPS, I just saw these two going against each other and we anticipated it and then we just pushed the button with emotion and said “we can win this.”

“I could have eliminated him with this message!” Imagine how that would have felt. I’m emotional. I like us to do well and I like to see Lewis (Hamilton) and George do well. I was just carried away by this situation, but seriously, embarrassing! »

The reason for Wolff’s excitement was the contact between the front two which came after an escalating brawl, with the team principal stating he did not expect an incident when the brawl started given the general good relationship between Verstappen and Norris.

“I think we were trying to be rational and we were on our way to P3 and that’s where the pace of the car was and what George was able to get was a solid result,” he said. -he declares. “That’s what it was.

“Then you obviously see these two up front, giving it their all. We know they are really good friends and it was fun to watch. That’s how I perceived it at that moment.

“Then obviously it got a little bit more violent and at one point we said it was possible they could collide, and then it literally happened, both with a puncture.” We couldn’t believe it when we saw it.

The story originally appeared on Racer