After winning the Austrian F1 stage, British pilot George Russell admits with a smile that he almost crashed when Mercedes boss Toto Wolff started shouting on the radio after the collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Russell was around 12 seconds back when Verstappen and Norris collided.
“George, you can win, you can win, George,” Wolff shouted to him over the radio, even though the sportsman had been informed shortly before that Verstappen had blown a tire.
“Let me go, damn it,” was Russell’s response to the team. The pilot managed to take the lead, avoid mistakes and win the second victory in his career. This is Mercedes’ first victory since the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix.
“All of a sudden Toto was yelling in my ear that I could win,” Russell said after the race. “I almost crashed when he screamed. But it just shows the passion we have for all of this. The last couple of years have been tough. It feels great to be on the top step of the podium again.”
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri was unable to catch the leader in the final laps, as Russell managed to cool his solid tires during the virtual safety car and was able to go fast again. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz, who had been overtaken by Piasti earlier, came in third.
“We knew that Mercedes could have an advantage in racing mode, but we did everything to keep up,” says the Ferrari pilot. “Oscar came very close at the end. I think third place is a good result for us. Those are the happy days of F1, that there are sharp turns at the front and we see nice battles. Unfortunately, we are recovering from several difficult races and are not yet ready to compete for wins. But as a team we are doing everything to be back in shape at Silverstone.”
