Toto Wolff: Here’s what the Mercedes team principal had to say about the Russell & Hamilton crash

George Russell had set his sights high for the Belgian Grand Prix after his deficit in the World Championship to his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli had shrunk to 25 points at his home race in Silverstone. The Briton wanted to close the gap on his formidable team-mate even further, but struggled throughout the weekend to keep up with the 19-year-old from Bologna. In the race, which Antonelli started from pole and Russell from fourth on the grid, the challenger was briefly able to harbour hopes of a strong result.

Russell got off to a good start, but things went off the rails as soon as he came out of the first corner. The Mercedes driver clearly lacked the power to keep up with the frontrunners. He was pushed back through the field and then collided with his former team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Whilst the Ferrari star was able to continue – and later received a 5-second penalty for the collision – Russell was forced to retire. He ended up in the gravel trap and thus came away empty-handed. As a result, he dropped from second place to third in the World Championship standings, behind the seven-time champion of all people.

The seven-time Grand Prix winner was angry – but not at Hamilton. He regarded the unfortunate contact at Les Combes as a normal racing incident. “Of course, the blame lay more with him, but he didn’t do anything rash; it was simply one of those incidents. He didn’t do it on purpose,” he explained after the bitter retirement.

Appeal from team principal Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff’s assessment is similar. The Mercedes team principal said: “George has our full support. He tried to go on the outside, braked late and it should have been his corner. But that’s a normal racing incident. These things can always happen, whether you’re at the front, in the midfield or at the back of the field.”

And, reflecting on his protégé’s performance, the Viennese team principal emphasised: “George had a difficult weekend; that’s probably 50 per cent down to the power unit, which wasn’t as good as it should have been. And the other half was probably down to his driving. But we’re all in the same boat here. We all make mistakes. Today the mistake was down to the team; next time it might be the driver’s fault. We simply have to minimise the number of mistakes and support one another.”

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