Toto Wolff weighs in on 'unpleasant' Lewis Hamilton and George Russell situation
Toto Wolff insisted he has not lost any sleep over the "unpleasant situation" between his drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
For much of their partnership at Mercedes over the last two years, the two British racers have got along well, but at the last two race weekends there have been incidents which have potentially put a strain on their relationship. In Japan they were fighting hard on track which would have had those in the Mercedes garage chewing their fingernails. They managed to avoid making contact on that occasion, but weren't so luck last time out at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Russell started one place ahead of his team-mate, but Hamilton had the grippier soft tyres on. He tried to sweep around the outside of the other Mercedes going into the first corner, but misjudged the move and caused contact which sent him spinning into the gravel and out of the race.
The only good news for the Mercedes drivers was that team principal Wolff was not there to witness it. But he has made the trip for this weekend's United States Grand Prix after recovering from knee surgery and was quickly quizzed about the state of his driver partnership.
"Well, there were some, let's say, unpleasant situations that we have talked about," he responded. "Lots of points that we left on the table but there is nobody more aware than the drivers. And sometimes you need these moments to recalibrate and recondition and avoid similar situations in the future.
Sebastian Vettel warns of looming F1 ban and is "very worried about the future"
"But they are racing drivers, they compete hard. Your first competitor is your team-mate and therefore I see it with a relative and relaxed stance. And I'm back – I don't think [there was a link between his absence and the incidents]. We've laughed about that too in the team, but I don't think it had an effect.
"I think we are racing more at the front now and I think we have a sniff on how it is looking like to have no car in front of you with the McLarens and with Max [Verstappen] there. So much in any case, we'll never find out – I'm back."
In Wolff's absence at the Losail International Circuit, Mercedes communications chief Bradley Lord was left to react in real time and said: "There should be a little bit of tension [between Hamilton and Russell] there because they are competitors and we don't want puppy dogs in the car, we want lions and that's what we've got.
"The real challenge is how do you build a healthy and trusting relationship? And how do you work together as a team in order to achieve the team's objectives? And they're both really able to do that. I think Lewis, again, has paid tribute to the quality of his relationship with George after the race and they'll talk about this, put it behind them, and then we'll come back even stronger in Austin as a team."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
