As the leading duo of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen collided in Austria, George Russell had a clear shot at winning at the Red Bull ring, a track that has historically not been the best for Mercedes. Thus, Toto Wolff got excited and got on the radio to inform his driver that he could win it. However, it was quite obvious by that point and the 26-year-old driver was having none of it. Now, even former Haas boss Guenther Steiner has made fun of the Austrian’s radio call, calling it a “Captain Obvious” moment.
Wolff’s radio call was, “You can win this George!”. To this, Russell responded, “Just let me f****** drive!”. After the #63 driver took the chequered flag and won the race, he got an apology from Wolff, who admitted the emotions got the better of him. Russell too then took a cheeky tone and highlighted how his boss got a bit too excited at that moment.
Toto: “You can win this George”
George: “Just let me ****** drive!”#F1 #AustrianGP @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/1vYjLzAMhX
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 30, 2024
Speaking on The Red Flags podcast, Steiner justified Russell’s angry reaction to his boss’ radio call and mentioned, “His answer should have been ‘No shit, Captain Obvious!'”
Steiner then further added that Wolff admitted in an interview about his ‘dumb’ radio call. The Mercedes boss told Steiner in an interview that telling Russell that he could win the race “at the end of a straight” was quite ‘dumb’ on his part. It was understandable that Wolff felt that excitement as Mercedes had not won a race since Brazil in 2022.
Still, as Steiner said, Russell certainly understood the situation as the leading duo ahead of him suffered punctures. Thus, Wolff coming on the radio to inform his driver was unnecessary and could have in fact disrupted Russell’s concentration.
Hence, the ex-Haas boss made fun of Wolff, as his radio calls and other driver interactions had previously become meme material when he was working as a team boss. Steiner then went on to state that he used to come on the radio only when something went wrong instead of such a positive moment.
How Steiner managed his drivers at Haas?
Steiner always used to be in the spotlight about his driver interactions. The former teammate pairing of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen knows the best about how the American-Italian was quite ruthless and rarely spoke diplomatically.
Even the younger drivers like Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin got a taste of it in 2021 and 2022. Schumacher especially had to deal with Steiner’s wrath and unfiltered criticism as the German crashed often during the ’22 season.
The former Haas boss often used to lose his patience in demanding better performances from Schumacher and eventually decided to drop the German in the 2023 season. Once again, Steiner’s ruthless decision-making was understandable but it landed him in hot waters, as some questioned whether he treated Schumacher a bit too harshly.
While that matter may always remain subjective, the one that thing is certain is that Steiner’s management of his drivers was quite different from Wolff’s. Steiner only stepped in when things became tough as he believes his drivers knew how to handle themselves when the situation was going their way.
