Toto Wolff saw right through George Russell’s ‘politician’ act after British Grand Prix

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George Russell finished second in Sunday’s British Grand Prix despite a relative lack of straight-line performance.

Russell complained on Friday and Saturday that he was hamstrung by a mysterious issue that was costing him in the fastest sections of the circuit.

However, he also acknowledged that his own performance hadn’t been good enough, and that he was somewhat fortunate to finish second behind Charles Leclerc.

George Russell tried to shape the narrative, but Toto Wolff wouldn’t let him

Russell was around three and a half tenths slower than Antonelli in both qualifying sessions.

It looked as if Antonelli would extend his championship lead significantly as he hunted down Leclerc for the win and Russell was forced into an extra pit stop with a slow puncture.

But then the race changed. Antonelli had to come in twice as Mercedes desperately tried to fix a broken wheel shield that prevented him from properly steering, and Max Verstappen spun out shortly afterwards.

The safety car was deployed while Verstappen’s car was recovered, and Russell stayed out rather than pitting, which promoted him to P2 above Lewis Hamilton. Race control ran out of time to restart the race, and he held on.

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Speaking on the radio after crossing the line, Russell said: “Well done for sticking in there, but let’s really try and get on top of this straight-line speed stuff. That was a very frustrating weekend.”

Team principal Toto Wolff replied: “Yeah George, I think straight-line [speed] was okay in the race.”

George Russell could have a future in ‘politics’

Russell has accepted that he’s partly to blame for the deficit to Antonelli, but also wanted it on the record that it wasn’t entirely his fault. Wolff didn’t seem to buy into that argument.

“You know what George is?” Jolyon Palmer mused on the F1 Nation podcast. “He should have a future – I’m sure he will not want it – but if he wants to go into politics, he’d be brilliant!

“Not only does he know the rulebook very well […], we also hear him get what he wants to say across all the time. He knows he’s not performing at a level good enough to win the championship. As a driver, you’re realising if you have to find 11 tenths of your potential to get close to your teammate.

“He’s trying to get his message across. If you’re saying you’re down on the straights, that means it’s not the driver, that means there’s something wrong with the car.

“Toto Wolff swatted it away. It was, ‘No, you need to find more, stop blaming us, the team.’

“[…] He’s very good at getting across what he wants to get across. He was trying to do the same on the in-lap, but obviously, Toto Wolff wasn’t interested in that becoming a line for him to use. It was a bit spicy.”

Russell has now cut the gap at the top of the standings to 25 points, the closest he’s been since Miami.