logo

Mercedes says it is "proud of the character" Russell showed after Zhou's accident

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff praised George Russell's attitude in going to Guanyu Zhou's accident at Silverstone to find out if his colleague was okay

Mercedes says it is "proud of the character" Russell showed after Zhou's accident
O acidente da largada que envolveu vários pilotos e fez Zhou sair voando (Vídeo: F1 TV)
The start accident that involved several drivers and sent Zhou flying (Video: F1 TV)

The crash at the start of last weekend's British GP marked the event. Despite the great race that was to follow, the major incident that saw Guanyu Zhou's car as the worst affected also ended George Russell's race. Despite this, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff preferred to praise the Englishman for the attitude he took.

Russell was at the center of the accident. It was a touch between him and Pierre Gasly that ended in the Mercedes car whipping and hitting the Alfa Romeo of Zhou, which took off, slid upside down and rolled over the tire barrier, stopping only on the railing. Russell got out of the car and immediately ran to the spot where Zhou's overturned car was. He climbed the tire barrier and exited only when he was informed that the Chinese driver was okay.

"George certainly had the pace to recover from eighth place [starting position]. It was a shame he couldn't do it, but we are proud of the character he showed after the incident," he spoke.

In addition, he took advantage of the days that have passed since and then for another analysis of the weekend.

Batida assustadora de Guanyu Zhou deixou chinês de cabeça para baixo na Inglaterra (Foto: Reprodução)
Guanyu Zhou's frightening crash left Chinese man upside down in England (Photo: Reproduction)

"It was a spectacular weekend at Silverstone, with a fantastic crowd and a more competitive performance from us," he said.

"This reflects our hard work to upgrade the car, and the circuit also played in our favor. It brought out the strongest parts of our current set-up," he followed.

"Lewis ran a brilliant race and engaged in some epic battles. We could have had a better result if things had turned out differently.

The Mercedes boss also talked a bit about the expectations for the Austrian GP, a race that Mercedes has won only once in the last four years - with Valtteri Bottas in 2020. Hamilton has won the race only once, in 2016.

"I'm also looking forward to it being my home race. It's a very different track to Silverstone and one that hasn't always suited us in the past, but the cars have changed dramatically since we were last at Spielberg. We will prepare as well as we can to enjoy the moment," he finished.

GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and IN REAL TIME all the activities of the Austrian GP weekend. On Friday, TL1 is scheduled for 8am (GMT-3).