“We need to calm everybody down”- Toto Wolff on George Russell’s hype after solid practice session

“We need to calm everybody down”- Toto Wolff pleads everyone to calm down after George Russell’s hype due to solid practice session performances.

George Russell had impactful performances in the first two practice sessions of the Sakhir Grand Prix, as he secured the fast time on record on both occasions.

Now, with such a great performance, viewers are expecting a great performance by Russell, who for the first time is driving a Mercedes, as he replaced Lewis Hamilton after the latter got tested positive of COVID-19.

Yet, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has told fans to not hype up his performances and have calm until the final race, as it’s too soon to boast his run in Mercedes.

“We need to calm everybody down because it was the first session on a new and short circuit,” Wolff said. “He delivered a really solid job, what we expected from him on a single lap.

“The long runs are difficult with all the cars anyway, and difficult to really establish a benchmark because Valtteri broke his car very early on in the session.

The future of Mercedes?

Russell joined Mercedes young drivers’ programme in 2016 and is the first member from it to actually race for the team. Till now, Wolff has highly rated him, which led to his position in Williams.

“He’s somebody that is generally relaxed,” Wolff said. “He comes across on the radio as chatty and buzzing, but driving the car, in the debriefs, he’s very focused and calm.

“The race record that he has, winning GP3, winning F2, both in the rookie years and the maturity he has shown from a very early age stand out.

“I remember him coming to my office when he was 15 or 16 years old with a black suit and a black tie with a PowerPoint presentation about why Mercedes should support him. So very mature for his age.

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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