“We’re not providing him with the car,” Toto Wolff praises George Russell, blames weak car for not getting him the deserved position

“We’re not providing him with the car,” Toto Wolff praises George Russell, blames weak car for not getting him the deserved position

Toto Wolff and George Russell

It’s been a shaky start to the 2022 season for Mercedes. No one thought that the team could be the third fastest car on the grid heading into the new era. There are many reasons for it, as said by its team principal Toto Wolff. But despite all of it, Mercedes have still managed to find decent results in the first two races.

The team’s latest addition to its roster was the 24-year old driver George Russell who replaced Valtteri Bottas this season. George has so far finished P4 and P5 in the first two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively, winning six points more than his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Toto Wolff, while assessing George Russell’s performance in these two races, as quoted by racingnews365.com, said, “I think he does a great job.[But] he’s not given a tool to fight at the front, where he and Lewis deserve to be. George has proven that he has the ability of racing at the front, but simply at the moment, we’re not providing him with the car. I’m very happy with his performance overall.”

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Where can Mercedes improve according to Toto Wolff?

Toto Wolff at the Mercedes W13 car launch
Mercedes W13 car launch

The Brackley-based outfit struggled with the pace during the second round of pre-season testing in Bahrain after their atrocious changes in sidepods. This struggle seems to have sprouted from the porpoising.

He said, “I think we are not running the car where we wanted to run it. Therefore, it is very difficult to really assess what the lap time deficit is if we were able to run the car lower [to the ground]. I would very much hope that the gap is much closer to what we’ve seen [in Saudi Arabia], but there’s deficit everywhere.”

Mercedes seems to be almost a second behind Red Bull and Ferrari. And while the development and improvement take time, Mercedes seems to be the only team that can cover up the deficit and go beyond its rivals as fast as it is possible. 

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