Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff has warned George Russell, who will join the team next season, of the boundaries that he will have to respect.
Wolff has stated that he will not hold back the youngster, but that no driver is bigger than the team. He has also said that he wouldn’t hesitate to take a driver out of the car if they bad-mouthed the team.
“I wouldn’t hesitate in the future if a driver talked bad about the team or wasn’t appropriate. I would first deal with it internally and if that didn’t yield results, I would take the driver out of the car. On the bench, yes. And George Russell is another intelligent young man. He will slot into the team, but that doesn’t mean he has to hold back when driving. You can’t expect a lion in the car and a puppy out of it.
“But there are certain boundaries within the team that must be respected and George knows them very well. Once the lights are green, only the drivers are responsible,” said Wolff.
Wolff has also opened up about the fractious relationship he had with Lewis Hamilton at the start of the Brit’s stint with Mercedes. The Austrian said that he used to bite back at Hamilton’s comments to make a point, but their relationship is very good now.
He praised the seven-time world champion for being a team player and stated that there is trust and respect between him and Hamilton. Wolff also admitted that in Hamilton’s bitter rivalry with then-teammate Nico Rosberg, he was close to benching one of them from the team because of their very public feud.
Hamilton will have his third teammate at Mercedes F1 next season when Russell joins the team from Williams. The Brit has been teammates with Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas in the German team so far.
Russell, who has been a part of Mercedes’ Young Driver program, has raced once for the Silver Arrows, when he stepped into Hamilton’s car for last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain. The seven-time world champion had to step aside after contracting COVID-19. Russell is seen as the future of the Mercedes team and is thought of highly in F1 circles as a future world champion.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s present teammate Bottas, will move to Alfa Romeo next season after four seasons with Mercedes. The Finnish driver has racked up 10 wins in his F1 career, all coming for the Silver Arrows.
