George Russell was advised by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to focus on the race after getting involved in a touch-and-go with Sergio Pérez in France - and approved the intervention
George Russell's unsuccessful attempt to overtake Sergio Perez at the French GP last Sunday (24), when the two touched, generated an immediate reaction from Mercedes over the radio. With the Briton extremely annoyed with the Mexican's move, Toto Wolff came on the radio of the #63 car and advised his driver to focus on the race and overtake his Red Bull rival on the track.
After the race, Russell approved Wolff's radio input and considered the boss' intervention important as he believes the action makes the team more united. According to the driver, the competitors are absolutely alone in the cockpit, and it's good to feel that the team is racing together - albeit over the radio.
"I think emotions are running high there for all of us," Russell stated. "I felt like I made a mega move on 'Czech,' and in the end I couldn't take the position. We definitely had a little more pace there. I enjoyed listening to Toto [Wolff] on the radio, but from my side, I was pushing as hard as I could," he pointed out.
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"We're in this together as a team, and when you sit in the car, sometimes you feel a little bit alone," he said. "Because we're in the car, we're doing everything we can and you don't know what the engineers are looking at, the engineers don't fully feel what we feel inside the car, and having that exchange sometimes makes us a little bit more united," he opined.
Wolff also explained the moment when he advised Russell to focus on the race, and said that he felt the possibility of overtaking Perez - however, he needed his driver to fully focus on the race, instead of losing concentration by getting angry at the touch suffered in the dispute with the Mexican.
In the end, Russell took advantage of a 'nap' by Pérez during the virtual safety-car restart and left his rival behind, taking third place in the final stretch of the race.
"I felt as if he was stuck in aloop, getting annoyed with the situation," Wolff explained. "As a driver, you're stuck in the cockpit, and I felt he had the pace, he just needed to let go of the irritation and focus on beating him on the track. In the end, he was smart. There was a little confusion with the virtual safety-car, and he took advantage of it," he closed.