Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has kept George Russell waiting all year for a new contract. Now, after Russell said “nothing’s going to happen over the summer” contract-wise following a typically resolute performance at the Hungarian GP, it looks like the roles have been reversed.
In that context it was interesting to note the phrasing of a “mid-season report” video Wolff recorded for registered fans of the Mercedes team. Against a background of a rousing video montage, juxtaposed with a curiously soporific Brian Eno-style ambient music soundtrack, Wolff came as close as he is ever likely to explicitly saying Russell was the faster of his two drivers last year.
This is noteworthy since it is a highly emotive topic for the fan community and therefore dangerous ground, even if the statistics largely bear it out. While both drivers won two grands prix last season, Hamilton’s Spa victory was an inherited one when his team-mate was disqualified having crossed the line first on the road.
And, while the points difference was ultimately negligible – Russell beat Hamilton by 245 points to 223 – the qualifying picture was rather more one-sided. Russell outqualified Hamilton 5-1 in the sprint events and 19-5 in grands prix, a surprising margin given Hamilton’s pre-eminence over a single lap during his career.
“When I look at George, the development he’s made since he joined Formula 1 from the fast kiddo in Williams,” said Wolff, “and then being drafted into Mercedes, clearly with the greatest of all greats, with Lewis Hamilton.
“And you’ve seen already last year he started to be so strong on pure pace – in terms of the results, the stronger driver. And now with Lewis having gone to Ferrari he’s taken the senior driver slot, and it completely came naturally and he delivers.
“He delivers, even when the car is not on the level, he outperforms the car, you can always count on George. And beyond the driving, obviously he’s also great with our partners and does a lot of activities that help us to build his brand and build our brand.
“So we couldn’t wish for a better number-one driver.”
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Last year Hamilton’s struggles in qualifying naturally became the topic of speculation at the more absurd end of the spectrum as bizarre conspiracy theories began to circulate to account for his performance deficit. In June an anonymous email was circulated claiming that Hamilton was being sabotaged.
Later, when Hamilton qualified half a second off Russell in Qatar, the online abuse of the team intensified into a blizzard. Wolff responded by describing such people as “idiots”.
So to revisit the subject is interesting – and potentially significant in the context of ongoing contractual negotiations in which Russell is now understood to have a strong position, given his performances this season. Such unequivocally effusive praise of Russell has been relatively rare this season while Wolff has been flirting with ‘Team Verstappen’.
Equally there will be those – particularly the Mercedes media managers – who would dismiss this view as post hoc ergo propter hoc muddling of correlation with causation.
Nevertheless, Wolff’s encomium will no doubt delight George as he puts his feet up on a beach somewhere.
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