George Russell Accused of ‘Making Up’ Big Talk as Mercedes Boss Catches Him off Guard

George Russell impressed everyone after he defeated Lewis Hamilton in their first season as Mercedes teammates last year. However, the 25-year-old’s form seems to have fallen considerably this season. Russell is currently sixth in the championship with 99 points, 49 points behind fourth-placed Hamilton. Since Russell seems to have struggled significantly more this year, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has opened up on what the young British driver got wrong in the first part of the season. The Austrian’s recent remarks came in an interview with Mirror Sport after the Dutch Grand Prix qualifying session, where Russell managed to set the third-fastest time.

After qualifying third, Russell explained how he was not happy with himself for how his first half of the season had panned out. “A lot of missed opportunities this season, for various reasons. Some from mistakes of my own, some like the failure in Australia cost me a lot of points,” explained the Briton (as quoted by mirror.co.uk)

Therefore, Russell believes that he needed the break to rediscover his form. However, Wolff has dismissed Russell’s claims by citing how ‘form‘ is not the reason for the former Williams driver’s struggles in the first half of the campaign.

Toto Wolff disagrees with George Russell over ‘form‘ claims

In an interview with Mirror Sport, Toto Wolff explained how all drivers have their ups and downs. Thus, he believes it is not fair for George Russell to criticize himself for how he performed in the first half of the season.

“All drivers have days that are not so good and we’ve seen ups and downs with George, but the quality of driver that he is, I’ve never doubted for a minute,” explained the Austrian. The 51-year-old believes that the earlier the Briton realizes the same, the better it will be for him.

P3! Thanks to the team for a great job. Big push tomorrow. 👊 pic.twitter.com/iRUwWFCnG6

— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) August 26, 2023

“I’m trying to really bang into his head that he hasn’t lost his form and that it’s just a myth that he’s making up. You don’t unlearn to drive. You have ups and downs like all of us have. Racing drivers too, but every weekend when things have gone against him it was pretty clear why that was – and it wasn’t the driving,” explained Wolff.

Now, with Russell’s confidence having come back following his outstanding qualifying session on Saturday, he is hoping to challenge Max Verstappen for the win. However, beating the Dutchman at his home race will be far from easy as the Red Bull driver is looking to win his ninth race in a row.

Russell says he will not rule out a chance of victory at Zandvoort

After qualifying third on Saturday, George Russell told racingnews365.com how Mercedes’ car is better suited to the Zandvoort circuit. While he believes that Red Bull still have the quickest car, he has claimed that he would be in the midst to pounce on any mistake that Max Verstappen makes during the race.

The Mercedes driver pointed out how the Dutchman and Red Bull could get several things wrong that could give him a chance of securing the team’s first victory this season. This is because Russell believes that the Milton Keynes outfit will not only need to get their strategy right but that Verstappen will also need to drive a flawless race to win his 11th race of the 2023 campaign.