© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff talks about George Russell’s performance and says his experience at the Sakhir Grand Prix helped both himself and Williams.
George Russell, a Mercedes junior driver, finally had the opportunity to race for the team at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. While Toto Wolff is pleased with his performance, he says it is important to learnin from one’s own mistakes, citing George Russell’s crash behind a safety car in Imola as an example.
“Winning Formula 1 championships is about making the least amount of mistakes,” the Austrian told Autosport.
“And that only comes with routine and experience. Mercedes expects these kind of sustainable performance levels. And that’s why you need to give young drivers time.
“Because as exuberant as they may be perceived after the performance that we’ve seen [at the Sakhir Grand Prix] from George, at the same time, young drivers will be criticised, and criticised quickly, when they make mistakes in such a high pressure environment like a top team.
“That’s why making experiences like in Imola, and the learnings from that, are very important to form a driver that can perform at a sustainable high level.”
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Russell got his opportunity to drive a Mercedes due to Lewis Hamilton being forced to miss a race after contracting COVID-19. Wolff says the team used this opportunity to further test the young Briton.
“We believed in George because there’s not many drivers out there that have won junior championships as rookies, especially not the very competitive GP3 and F2 championships.
“For us, [the Sakhir GP] was a possibility to confirm what we were thinking about George. It was unfortunate that this opportunity came with Lewis having been out.
“I would have wished it would have happened in a different way, but it gave us a set of data points to look at. And in a way it affirmed how we judged him.
“It was also an advantage for him and Williams. He was going to go back to his team with a lot of learning, with more understanding.
“And this is why I think for him personally and for Williams, it was advantageous,” concluded Mercedes’ team boss.
