© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
At the Sakhir Grand Prix Friday Press Conference Toto Wolff talked about Lewis Hamilton‘s condition, George Russell in a Mercedes and more. Here is the transcript.
Q: Toto, can we start with you please. How is the Champion, Lewis Hamilton, was he even watching FP1, do you think?
Toto WOLFF: I don’t know – probably not, he has better things to do than watching an FP1 session. He’s recovering. I think those first few days are always critical once you catch Corona. I think he’s OK. He was symptoms but they are relatively mild.
Q: So, bringing it on to FP1 this evening, George Russell, if we could talk about him. Just sum-up his progress, P1.
TW: FP1 was a good session for him. I mean, we need to calm everybody down because it was a first session on a new and short circuit. He delivered a really solid job in what we expected from him on a single lap. The long runs were difficult with our cars anyway, difficult to really establish a benchmark because Valtteri broke his car very early on in the session, wasn’t really able to stop it properly. So I would say I am happy with what George has done. It’s about what we expected him to.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Edd Straw – The Race) Question for Toto please, what’s the likelihood of Lewis being ready for Abu Dhabi, and also, given the symptoms he’s showing and the timelines involved, what are the practicalities of being able to get him there? Basically, when’s the latest he can test negative and still make it to Abu Dhabi and participate?
TW: We have seen tests that were negative within ten days, so I think that is perfectly feasible, in my opinion but it would be a very positive development. Nevertheless, you need to look at the situation anyway because there is many athletes have tested positive for a long time after any symptoms and after they’ve been in any way infectious – but this is something the FIA needs to look into anyway.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC) Toto, this is a question for you. Do you see this, as many other people within Formula 1 do, as a showdown test between Valtteri and George for the 2022 seat?
TW: No, not at all. I’ve heard this rumour and obviously you can’t call it a shoot-out when it’s about one or two races. That doesn’t give you any meaningful data whatsoever. If George does well it’s an indication that one day he’s going to be in a good car and hopefully race for victories and World Championships – but that is far away. He knows that. He just needs to do a solid job, not make any mistakes, and continue what he has done. There is no shootout. We have total trust in Valtteri and loyalty as we’ve always had – and that is our position.
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Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Toto, you said at the last race that you and Lewis were taking baby steps with regard to his new contract and talks in that regard. Does the fact he’s now isolating for ten days, how much does that hold things up in terms of you guys sitting down and hashing things out over a new deal for next year?
TW: Well, the timeline is being pushed back until he recovers. We know that we need to get it done, pretty well aware, both of us but the priority now is him getting back on his feet and being back negative. And then we will meet, or Zoom, in order to put pen to paper.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Question for Toto. George obviously has to adapt to Mercedes processes and also specifics of the car – but how do you expect him to assert his authority in areas that he can? What have you seen from him already in terms of asking for specific information, or asking if things can be done differently – that sort of thing?
TW: I don’t think he has to assert his authority. There is no authority required in the team. We know what we do and he has, of course, a good plan of where he wants the car to be – but being drafted in last minute, like it has happened for him, we need to find compromises. Compromises means he needs to settle in a car that isn’t his in processes that he wasn’t involved in. And we, on the other side, have a totally different personality and character than Lewis. So, it’s an interesting exercise, also for us, how adaptable we are, and also for him to being thrown in the cold water.
Toto, on the topic of being adaptable, Lewis is going to be missed obviously, but is there a buzz about the place having a new driver this weekend?
TW: First of all, there is no buzz, because Lewis is ill with Corona and we’d rather him not be ill but here with the team. Of course, we rate George highly and giving him such a possibility is, in a way, interesting – but with hindsight I’d rather have everything normal, as it was, because George anyway one day is going to make it into a good car.
Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Another question for Toto on the driver change. I know you said it’s not a showdown between the two of them, and all that kind of stuff – but if Valtteri is beaten by George, mentally, that’s going to be quite tough to take, I would have thought. So, how are you reassuring him and is it just a case of ‘tough luck, you’re a racing driver, you’ve got to go up against whoever’s put up next to you’?
TW: Valtteri has never been anybody that needs reassuring. He knows where he stands, he knows his position in the team, how we are supportive of each other and we have to remain realistic. George is a highly-rated young driver, one of the most highly rated, so it’s expected for him to be fast. He knows the team and this is a fifty-second circuit where you need to be in the right place at the right time with the right engine modes. In that respect, this is just going to be alright. We all expected George to be right there, and we see how the weekend ends.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Question for Toto. Lewis was in Dubai before travelling to Bahrain and that’s where it appears he contracted the virus. Did you know he was going to be there? Did he have permission to be there? And as a team principal, how frustrating is it to not have your star driver available for one, possibly two races?
TW: Lewis doesn’t need to have any permission. He rides anything he wants, he jumps out of every aeroplane he wants because he knows best what’s good for him and he’s a grown-up man and it was never an issue. I think contracting Covid-19 is something that we are all not very sure where you get it. If you ask Mario where he got it, he’s probably not going to know where. It’s just unfortunate. He was protecting himself a lot and then you go to Dubai, wear your mask all the time and come back with Corona. These things happen.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC) Toto, I wanted to follow up my question from earlier. You’ve obviously put George in for a reason and one would assume that’s so you can assess how good he is – and therefore that he’s a Mercedes young driver presumably the basis for that information would be whether you wanted to put him in your car in the future. So, while I accept the point that it’s not directly a showdown, surely this will have some influence on whatever influence on whatever decision you make about driver line-ups for 2022?
TW: Andrew, it’s another set of data points. This weekend and maybe next weekend that will be giving us more information in our overall understanding of George’s performances but we know that we race next year with Lewis and Valtteri and where we are in 2022 is all going to depend how our own season in 2022 is going to go, and not by George’s performance on an oval in Bahrain and on a season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Toto, regarding the data points from George etc and that Lewis doesn’t have a contract yet, could some of these data points be used to influence the market value of Lewis?
TW: No, Dieter. We’ve discussed having George in the car. We know what we have with Lewis and he knows what he has with the team. Such a situation would never be utilised as some kind of bargaining power, neither by him, nor by us – it could do both directions. I respect very much who he is, how he drives, his records, and whatever happens this week or next has no influence on our talks.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Toto, just going back to George: he has always had a very mature head on his shoulders, all the way through his junior career, what is it about his mentality that you believe means he is able to jump in and do a good job in what is quite high pressure situation with a lot to take in in a short amount of time?
TW: I think he is somebody that is generally relaxed. He comes across on the radio as very chatty and buzzing but driving the car, in the debriefings, he is very focused and calm. Obviously the race record he has – winning GP3, winning F2, both in the rookie years – and the maturity he has shown from a very early age stands out. I remember him coming to my office when he was 15, 16 years old in a black suit and a black tie with Powerpoint presentation of why Mercedes should support him. So, very mature for his age but probably well suited from his personality to jump in the car in such a high-pressure situation. Burt again, let’s stay both feet on the ground. It’s FP1. These cars haven’t been taken out in anger and we haven’t raced yet.
Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Toto, a few weeks ago Lewis said that George had the potential to be a future world champion. What was Lewis’ reaction when you told him that you were planning to put George in the car and take his place this weekend?
TW: Lewis knew who the candidates were and who we were talking. I think those very special drivers they see and know who is going to come up and who one day could be up there for victories and championships. I think is priority is now to get healthy. I’m not sure he is going to follow in detail what is happening on track. If you are in bed and not feeling great, racing becomes a second priority.
Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Toto, we’ve seen in Formula E that BMW and Audi are both pulling out. What does it say about that series as a long-term prospect?
TW: Well, it’s certainly a little bit of a shake-up if two premium OEMs leave the series. But I think it’s good they have done it with a full season to go. But they will have their reasons, which we must respect. At the end, every motor racing series needs to return on investment and if that calculation doesn’t work for you it’s perfectly legit to decide to pull out. On the other side, we stay behind it. We have always been a manufacturer that has stayed loyal to racing series. We have been 30 years in DTM. We have been in Formula 1 for a long time as and engine supplier and as a team since 10 years. I think it’s important to understand that you have to go through the downs to come to the ups. I think the positive of the situation is that Formula E will progress on the learnings: why are these two guys leaving, is there anything we can do? I think the cost cap needs to come rather sooner than later, similar to Formula 1. These little entities need to profitable and only if they are profitable they will generate interest from shareholders, from people buying in, and it becomes a franchise value, like Formula 1 is going to be. I see the future bright in terms of the set-up of Formula E, but of course the series needs to deliver on all our expectations on branding, marketing and exposure. And if these expectations are being met, for us, it makes sense to remain in the series.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC) Toto, Stoffel Vandoorne is your reserve driver and it’s now been four races this year that he could have taken part in but didn’t. Can you explains what your thought process was in going for George rather than Stoffel and how he is feeling about the situation?
TW: What were the four races?
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC) Well, two for Racing Point, another for Racing Point and now this one.
TW: OK. Stoffel is our reserve driver and has done the grunt work, simulator and travelling to the grands prix, and has the capability of driving these cars very well. No doubt about that. Telling him that George was in the car was certainly not something that I took easy and I didn’t expect him to be excited about it. He took it professionally and expressing his, let’s say, reactions that were totally legitimate and he’d rather be in the car than not and that’s understandable. He’s a great guy. He is one of our two works drivers in Formula E. He’s been really good last year, particularly towards the season end, and we count on him in Formula E.
Source: FIA.com
