Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expects his future driver George Russell to respect Lewis Hamilton while racing each other.
The current Williams driver was heavily linked to a Mercedes seat throughout 2021, and his move to the Brackley based team was confirmed in September. The 23-year-old will replace Valtteri Bottas, who moves to Alfa Romeo at the end of this season.
Fans and pundits worldwide expect Russell to give Hamilton a run for his money. While Bottas had a good spell with the Silver Arrows, he never really challenged his teammate for the title.
However, no one expects Russell to be a ‘second driver’ in the team. People have been quick to predict another Nico Rosberg-Lewis Hamilton situation at Mercedes in 2022.
Team Principal Toto Wolff, on the other hand, insists that the 2018 F2 Champion is aware of the boundaries he must respect.
George Russell is a Mercedes F1 driver from 2022
Facts.#F1 pic.twitter.com/TAvd6KurkQ
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 7, 2021
No driver is bigger than Mercedes, says Wolff
Toto was adamant about the fact that no matter how big a driver, they are not bigger than the team. He lets all of his drivers know the same thing.
“This is Mercedes. We have no place for the genius jerk. Even a superstar driver has to respect team values.”, said Toto. “I wouldn’t hesitate in the future if a driver talked bad about the team or wasn’t appropriate, I would first deal with it internally and if that didn’t yield results I would take the driver out of the car. On the bench, yes.”
“And George Russell is another intelligent young man. He will slot into the team but that doesn’t mean he has to hold back when driving. You can’t expect a lion in the car and a puppy out of it.”
“But there are certain boundaries within the team that must be respected and George knows them very well. Once the lights are green, only the drivers are responsible.”
Also read: Lewis Hamilton promises to work harder to deny his future Mercedes teammate
Another Rosberg-Hamilton situation at Mercedes in 2022?
Toto Wolff had many problems to deal with when Nico Rosberg and Hamilton were teammates at Mercedes. The two rivals (once best friends) took their battles to another level that led to problems within the team. The two drivers often clashed with each other on track and, according to Rosberg, came close to clashing off it.
Mercedes will be looking to avoid something similar come next year, and Wolff is confident that no such problems will arise.
Also read: 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg reveals the moment he decided to retire
