© Paul Ripke for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Toto Wolff denies George Russell’s amazing performance at the Sakhir GP was ever used as a ‘bargaining chip’ in Mercedes’ contract negotiations with Lewis Hamilton.
The media likes to stir things up and so there were numerous “reports” speculating that Daimler might be ‘threatening’ Lewis Hamilton with the possibility of hiring George Russell, after the young Briton impressed in his Mercedes race debut at the Sakhir Grand Prix.
Although the stories were completely unsubstantiated, they were persistently relayed by many F1 news outlets. Now, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff denies these rumours once and for all.
“We never played the George Russell card on him,” the Austrian told ORF.
“He did incredibly well and will one day be in a top car, but our long-standing partnership is not at all about making any threatening gestures.
“We know we want to race together. And now we have to negotiate the contract.”
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As we already published, Wolff said him and Hamilton are yet to meet face to face, as the seven-time champion is currently in the USA. And, remember the pen Mercedes posted on social media, to tease the fans with the possibility of Hamilton signing a new deal? Toto was asked about that too!
“We’ll get the fountain pen out one day, but if we don’t see each other it’s difficult to sign something,” joked Wolff.
Today Formula1News.co.uk also posted a statement from “a source within the Mercedes F1 Team” that allegedly told the website that the rumours that Russell could race for Mercedes in 2021 were “fake news”.
“Any suggestion that Lewis won’t be with us this year is simply fake news, plain and simple,” quoted Formula1News.co.uk.
“There is no reason he and Valtteri won’t be driving our cars in 2021. You can consider it confirmed.”
