"It is a well-oiled machine working on all cylinders" - George Russell on Mercedes' 'so much success' under Toto Wolff

Mercedes driver George Russell thinks one of the key ingredients for success is the team's ability to work together. Talking to the media, he was questioned about the key differences between Mercedes and Williams, the two teams he has been a part of.

Talking about Mercedes, George Russell talked about how the entire team was a "well-oiled machine" firing on all cylinders to produce the best possible result every time. He said,

"At Mercedes, they've had so much success. Toto [Wolff] has been at the helm for so long, and the culture is ingrained within everybody here. It is a well-oiled machine working on all cylinders. I knew how excellent the team was and how talented everybody was, but it's been quite a reminder since joining the level at which they operate."

Russell also touched on the fact that the priority for everyone at Mercedes was building a fast racing car, which was very inspiring,

"It's been truly inspiring for me to see 2000 people giving everything they can to make fast race cars. Their priorities are race, race and race and they just want to win. That is pretty special."

Comparing that with Williams, the Mercedes driver touched on how passionate everyone was at the team and how they worked very hard. However, the problem was the lack of financials throughout his stay, which switched the focus from performance to survival. Russell said,

"The spirit at Williams was immense, everybody there worked so hard, they were so passionate, but throughout my time it was going through a difficult period. 2019 was not a year of performance and it was a year of survival in 2020 (as Williams went pointless for the first time in their F1 history)."

He further added,

"When the pandemic hit, the team had to do everything it could to survive and stay afloat and not go bankrupt. That paid such a huge toll on everybody within the company. Obviously, now through the sale of the company and the takeover [by US private investment firm Dorilton Capital], that really is a team on the up, [but] it takes time to refine everything."

---

Mercedes is a mix of core people and fresh blood

The other key difference was Mercedes having a strong core group of people that had been there since the Honda days and then adding new members to the team that brought fresh energy and perspective as well. He said,

"There is a lot of core people here, especially in the race team that have been since the Honda days and through the success of Brawn (such as Sporting Director Ron Meadows and Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin). But there is still lots of fresh and new energy coming in and bringing great things to the team.

Talking about Williams, there was a clear contrast as Russell said,

"It feels very much like a family team here, but Williams genuinely was a family-run business. The majority of people at Williams, when I went around the factory, and I was meeting people the first time, everybody I met had been there 15-20, 25-30 years. That seemed to be the case throughout the whole factory."

Looking at these key differences, one does understand why the German team was able to succeed for such a long time in the sport while Williams couldn't.