George Russell contradicts Toto Wolff in the build up to the Italian GP: “We have a car that’s capable of fighting victory”

George Russell contradicts Toto Wolff in the build up to the Italian GP: “We have a car that’s capable of fighting victory”

George Russell

George Russell kept everyone in the Mercedes garage on their toes with his opportunistic decision making. This is something that helped him to beat his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, at the Dutch GP. The 24 year old finished behind the championship leader, Max Verstappen, who clinched his 10th win of the season. It was a much improved weekend for Mercedes after Spa but there’s a lot of work to be done.

The qualifying session was a nightmare for the Mercedes duo as they expected to qualify higher. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell qualified P4 and P6. This was a blow especially because it’s ultra-difficult to string together an overtaking maneuver at Zandvoort. But, the sharp minds back at the garage were working night and day to put together a strategy to outsmart Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

In all honesty, Mercedes didn’t have the speed to get the better off Max Verstappen but it’s also true that the gap has significantly reduced. Toto Wolff remained pragmatic even after what he watched at Zandvoort. In a post-race interview, he said, “We won’t be fighting for pole positions on all the other race tracks, but at least we need to really get us back to this point for next year.”

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George Russell believes the W-13 has the potential to win a race, contradictory to what his boss said

George Russell
George Russell

But the Mercedes prodigy doesn’t share the same sentiment as his Team Principal. George is not at all surprised and feels Mercedes can fight for wins. He said, “There are no surprises there because these are two very similar circuits: high downforce; a lot of medium-speed corners. That’s where the car really comes into its own.”

“So, you know, we go into some very different circuits in the upcoming races. But globally, we’re bringing a lot of performance to the car.”

“I think we have a car that’s capable of fighting victory, we just need to be able to start a little bit higher up the order.”

It’s rare that you see two individuals on the same team having a stark difference in their opinion when it comes to the performance of the car. Toto Wolff would be more than happy to see George’s expectation coming true but at this moment, it looks highly unlikely.