Mercedes boss Toto Wolff shares his biggest regret in George Russell’s development as an F1 driver

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Change is afoot at Mercedes with team principal Toto Wolff preparing to make his first driver change since the end of the 2021 season.

Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari next season and Mercedes look set to promote Kimi Antonelli from their junior team.

Antonelli takes part in his first public F1 outing at Monza in FP1 to give Mercedes fans a taste of what they can look forward to next year.

The consistent figure among all of this is George Russell who is having a much stronger campaign than his position in the Drivers’ Championship suggests.

Russell finished 1^st at the Belgian Grand Prix before being disqualified because his car was underweight.

The 26-year-old was also in a very strong position at his home race in Silverstone before his Mercedes suffered a technical failure.

Toto Wolff has spoken to BBC Sport ahead of the Italian Grand Prix and talked about the man who’s about to become his team’s de facto number-one driver in 2025.

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Russell hasn’t had a straightforward time in Formula 1 after earning a promotion from F2 by winning the championship ahead of the likes of Lando Norris and Alex Albon.

He was placed at Williams to initially gain some experience but Wolff has now admitted that he may have made a mistake with Russell’s development by taking that step.

The two-time race winner may have spent too long at a team that was in such a bad position that his old teammate Robert Kubica called it a mistake to return to F1 to drive for them.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff suggests he made a mistake with George Russell’s Formula 1 development

Speaking about next year’s line-up and how Antonelli’s progression has been managed compared to Russell’s, Wolff said: “Without pre-empting too much about next year’s drivers, in a way, when such talent comes up, it’s not right either to park someone or place someone with another team.

“With George, it was probably a year too long with Williams. But then also we didn’t really have any space before.

“Let’s see what happens, but in a way I think we took the right decision for the benefit of Lewis, the team’s benefit, Kimi. It feels right.”

George Russell’s long-term Mercedes future isn’t set in stone

Russell is highly-rated by Mercedes and they wouldn’t have invested as much time and effort into him as they have if they didn’t think he was potentially a future world champion.

However, the fact that Mercedes have decided not to place Antonelli at a team like Williams to help him develop suggests they may have even bigger plans for the Italian going forward.

Wolff is also desperate to sign Max Verstappen and if Antonelli has a passable debut season, then Russell could be moved on with his contract expiring at the end of 2025.

READ MORE: Mercedes driver George Russell’s life outside F1 from net worth to height

He’s unlikely to be offered a new deal over the winter – like Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris were at Ferrari and McLaren last year – for that reason if the Dutchman becomes available, Wolff won’t hesitate to offer him a contract.

Russell has been told where his best and only option is if that happens but after three years toiling at Williams and then stepping into a Mercedes team on a downward spiral after a period of domination, that would be incredibly frustrating.

The 26-year-old has shown glimpses of his quality over the years, but never the signs that he could put together a sustained title-winning campaign just yet.