“I’ve got your back”- Toto Wolff says he has backup plan for George Russell

Tanish Chachra | 27/10/2020
"I’ve got your back"- Toto Wolff says he has backup plan for George Russell

“I’ve got your back”- Toto Wolff says he has a backup plan for George Russell as exit from Williams seems imminent in 2021.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has openly come out in support of George Russell, as the British driver sees a possible exit from Williams in 2021 with the latter team planning to hire Sergio Perez to implement heir revival in the sport.

Wolff has claimed even if Russell is dropped by his current team, he will have his back and will design a plan that will orchestrate his return in Formula 1 by 2022.

“I totally respect the independence of Williams like any other team and they need to make the decisions,” he said. “Sometimes financial decisions take priority over sporting decisions, and sometimes even the sporting decisions need to be balanced.”

“It’s not always a clear cut. It wouldn’t damage the relationship, it would be disappointing but that’s all. I’ll get over it.” he further said.

“These things are separate. These contracts, they are valid we will respect them, that’s how we do it here at Mercedes. I’m happy with the three customers that we have for next year.”

“No backup plan discussed”- George Russell

Meanwhile, Russell after his impressive 14th place performance at the Algarve circuit has claimed that no backup plan as of now has been discussed with Wolff over his speculated exit from Williams.

“No, we’ve not talked about a fallback,” said Russell. “He’s just said ‘listen, I’ve got your back, you’ll be on the grid next year, don’t worry’.

“There’s obviously a lot of speculation and I think it has been fed from other people. Everything will be fine and 100% clarified from the team’s perspective probably no later than at the end of next week.”

In the end, this could be a blessing in disguise for Russell, who might see himself in Mercedes seat in 2022 if he is involved back in Mercedes’ system.

Or maybe he might have to take the route earlier taken by Esteban Ocon to reach to a team like Renault, which is also a lucrative alternative.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
George Russell Mercedes Toto Wolff Williams

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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