Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff saw an opportunity for George Russell at the Austrian Grand Prix, and could not contain his excitement
When Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided on Lap 64 of last Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, it opened the door for George Russell to storm to the front and capture the first victory for Mercedes in the 2024 Formula 1 season.
It also opened the door for Mercedes Team Principal to make what he now calls the “dumbest” moment of his career with the team.
When the two drivers at the front of the field came together, it put Russell in a golden position to capture the team’s first win of the season. Caught up in the moment, Wolff got on the radio to urge Russell on and let him know he had a chance to win.
There was just one problem. Russell was entering a corner on the track where you need to have full focus and attention, a fact the driver was quick to remind his boss:
Shortly after Russell took the checkered flag, the driver was quick to remind Wolff that he “got very excited there.”
Speaking with the media after the race, Wolff admitted that his exuberance got the better of him.
“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 12 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’.
“And I could have taken him out with that message. Imagine how that would have felt,” continued Wolff. “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.”
Speaking with Sky Sports F1 Russell admitted that the message from Wolff nearly turned disastrous, but he understood that his boss’s heart was in the right place.
“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.”
