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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has paid tribute to George Russell for another stunning drive in the F1 Bahrain GP to finish P2 in the race. The driver had pulled off a stunning lap in qualifying to secure a front-row start for the race.
Unfortunately, a red flag infringement meant that both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were given a one-place grid penalty. In the race, the driver had a strong start and jumped Charles Leclerc to P2 early on.
From that point onwards, it was all about management of the race from the Mercedes driver. First, he fended off Lando Norris in the first stint. Then in the second stint, he was able to keep Charles Leclerc behind him.
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The race became even more complicated when we had a safety car disruption. With the drivers being forced to pit, George Russell put on soft tires with more than 20 laps left. Things got even worse when his brake-by-wire failed, and the driver had to manage his DRS as well.
After all of this, Russell also had to fend off Lando Norris in the later stages of the race. Talking to Sky Sports after the race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff paid tribute to his driver for putting together a stunning result. He said:
“Him managing the system coming in and out while keeping Norris behind him is just an unbelievable drive. What he did secured a podium. On top of that, taking the soft for such a long time was also great between managing and then attacking when he needed to."
He added:
“If you haven't driven a race car that has a BBW or conventional brake, it’s like when power steering fails and then imagine you have to adjust between one corner having it and the next one not having it. That was just very good skill. We feared we would lose the whole dash which would mean no buttons, no wheels to turn any of the settings, no shift lights and we had it in the back of our mind that it takes concentration away.”
George Russell reflects on his podium at the F1 Bahrain GP
George Russell has now scored 3 podiums in 4 races. The driver secured another podium this weekend and extracted the most from the car under him. Talking about his struggles after the race, the driver touched on all sorts of issues that he had to overcome to finally secure a P2 finish. He said (via Sky Sports):
"It was all under control for a moment and then suddenly we had a brake by wire failure so suddenly the pedal was going long and then it was going short so didn't know what was going on."
He added:
"The steering wheel wasn't working properly so it was really hard fought to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap he would have got me pretty comfortably but, nevertheless, really pleased with P2."
The Mercedes driver is 4th in the championship right now, but the gap between him and Lando Norris at the top of the standings is just 14 points.
