Why George Russell "enjoyed" Toto Wolff's French GP intervention

Mercedes

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Why Russell "enjoyed" Wolff's French GP intervention

Russell lit up the team radio after an attempted pass on Perez

Sam Hall

Wednesday 27 July 2022 09:10 Updated: 08:10

George Russell has explained that he "enjoyed" Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff's radio intervention during the 'high emotions' of the French Grand Prix.

Russell lit up the team radio late in Sunday's race after a failed attempt to pass Red Bull driver Sergio Perez for what transpired to be the final podium position.

At the Turn eight-nine chicane, Russell dove to the inside of Perez but clipped the kerb and understeered wide, leaving the Mexican with no option but to run wide and cut the chicane.

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Although Perez returned the gap to what it had been before the lunge, Russell was unhappy that he had not been ordered to reverse the positions, believing that he was far enough alongside to have earned the corner and the place.

The stewards determined that no further action was required and after a series of fractious radio calls from Russell, Wolff directly contacted the driver to tell him to "keep your head down".

"I quite enjoyed hearing Toto on the radio," said Russell. "But ultimately, from my side, you're going absolutely flat out but we're in this together as a team.

"When you're sat in the car, sometimes you do feel a bit alone, because we're in the car, we're doing everything we can, and you don't know what the engineers are looking at.

"The engineers don't totally feel what we're feeling within the car. And sometimes having these exchanges brings it a little bit closer together."

Russell 'emotions were high'

Russell had been stuck to Perez's gearbox for a number of laps before making his failed move.

Although the Mercedes driver had later been able to use a virtual safety car restart to take the position, this came after a period of having to be patient and wait for an opportunity to present itself.

"I think emotions were high then," Russell added. "I felt like I did a mega-move on Checo and ultimately didn’t get to keep the position [at that point]."