George Russell caught everyone by surprise after he celebrated his Austrian GP win by going “Yabba Dabba Doo”. Russell was making a reference to the 1960s animated series, The Flintstones. The 26-year-old celebrated in this fashion after his race engineer Marcus Dudley passed a hilarious remark.
Russell has now explained the reasoning for his celebration on the most recent episode of The Fast and the Curious podcast. When asked if his celebration was pre-planned, the Mercedes driver replied, “My engineer is pretty quick with some of his comments and his quick wit”.
Russell then added that his engineer told him “Boom Shakalaka” after his Austrian GP win. As a result, the Briton instantaneously replied to him with “Yabba Dabba Doo”.
On hearing Russell’s explanation, the hosts of The Fast and the Curious podcast expressed surprise. Christian Hewgill had a laugh while co-host Betty Glover said, “Oh My God!”
Russell then added that although he’s not a huge fan of the Flintstones, his reply to his engineer “came from the heart”. However, he did admit that he had pre-planned his T-pose celebration after his pole position in Canada.
Russell’s “Yabba Dabba Doo” celebration is going increasingly viral
Soon after Russell won the Austrian GP, Alex Albon texted him with “Yabba Dabba Doo”. Russell revealed on the podcast that he did not understand the Thai driver’s message at first. The hosts of the podcast then replied that Albon was indeed attempting to congratulate him.
Regardless, Russell’s win at the Austrian GP was crucial as it began the turnaround in Mercedes’ fortunes. For the past couple of seasons, the Silver Arrows had been struggling, as before Russell’s win in Spielberg, they last won a race at the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.
However, in the very next Grand Prix after Austria, Mercedes also went on to win at Silverstone. It was Lewis Hamilton who won the British GP to make it two consecutive victories for Mercedes.
