Toto Wolff had slammed George Russell and the rest of the Mercedes team after the British driver got knocked out in Q1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this year because of a lack of fuel in the car during the wet qualifying session.
The Austrian stated that a team of Mercedes’ caliber cannot afford to lose a driver out in Q1 and that both the driver and the the team should have come up with a better strategy to avoid such a mistake.
George Russell didn’t have the fuel to fight back as he was eliminated in Q1
Watch all the highlights of Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying now ⬇️#F1 #HungarianGP
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 20, 2024
A few weeks after Wolff‘s comments because of this mistake, F1 expert Peter Windsor has explained why Russell was not at fault. Instead, Windsor believes that the team should have come up with a better strategy in such a situation.
While speaking on Cameron F1’s official YouTube channel, the Australian journalist said, “What I find odd is that George Russell in any way could be criticized for what happened in Hungary. And that to me shows Toto Wolff’s lack of understanding of Formula 1”.
Russell too claimed that Q1 in Hungary was a disaster as he believes that when he went out on track, it was the “wettest”. And when the conditions dried up, he “had no fuel”. While Russell accepted that he too was to blame for the same, Windsor believes it was the Mercedes team who was at fault.
Unlike Wolff, Windsor absolves Russell of all blame
Windsor stated during the same interview that even if Russell had insisted on putting in low fuel and going out on track for just one run, it was the team’s responsibility to ensure that they informed the British driver of the risks.
The Australian journalist believes that since conditions were changing rapidly during the Hungarian GP qualifying session, it was essential for all teams to put enough fuel in the cars.
Most of the drivers around Russell improved while he failed to set a lap time that was quick enough to make it to Q2. While Windsor has absolved Russell of any blame, Wolff slammed “everyone” in his team.
The Austrian had said, “That was a total underperformance from literally everybody involved here”.
