Despite 8 Consecutive Constructors’ Championships, Toto Wolff on Why He Decided to Replace Valtteri Bottas With George Russell: “It Was the Best Schooling He Could Have Had…”

George Russell helped the Mercedes team to break the drought of wins this year at the Brazilian Circuit. This has really given a sigh of relief to the Mercedes team’s boss, Toto Wolff. Post the race win, Wolff hails the junior British driver but has a regret. The Billionaire believes that George Russell has been with the Williams a little too long.

After claiming his pole at the sprint race, the young Briton got his maiden victory at the Interlagos track. Russell, along with his teammate Lewis Hamilton, led the Silver Arrows to take the first victory of the season.

Although Russell was promoted and backed by the Mercedes throughout the season, the 24-year-old showed his real potential at the Brazilian track. The win at the Sao Paulo track has furthered the value of George Russell as a star in the Brackley-based unit. The ex Williams driver joined the German team after replacing Valtteri Bottas, who forged a successful partnership and bagged five constructors’ titles with Hamilton.

The junior Briton came up to the F1 World after a successful Mercedes Junior programme. He won the tough battle of GP 2 and Formula 2 before joining the F1 as a Williams driver. Toto Wolff believes that his stint with William for 3 years was quite a long time, recalling the early days when Wolff saw Russell, “I thought about it at the end of the race, when he walked in as a 16-year-old with his suit and his tie and his PowerPoint presentation,” said Wolff. ” He’s the first of our new junior programme that has won a race.”

Adding further, he said, ” Obviously Lewis has been there forever, and is the most successful of the ones that have graduated from our junior academy. But six years later, [Russell is] a grand prix race winner. We’ve always set hard targets. You’ve got to win GP3, you’ve got to win F2, and he did that in his rookie seasons. And then I guess at Williams, it was the best schooling he could have had, maybe a year too long.

READ MORE: Toto Wolff Suggests How George Russell Could Have Potentially Lost His 2022 Mercedes F1 Seat

The one-two finish has really impressed the Mercedes boss. Praising the duo, Wolff said that the Silver Arrows have got 2 Alpha drivers.

Toto Wolff believes Mercedes has two Alpha drivers

The last two GP saw the blaze and warned all the 9 other teams that the ‘Mercedes is back.’ Carrying forward the red-hot form, Lewis Hamilton received his third podium in a row. Teammate George Russell joined Hamilton in the pursuit of P2 in the WCC with exceptional performance. In the end, both the drivers finished one-two, which really impressed the team’s boss.

After struggling throughout the year, now the Silver Arrows have made a strong comeback and are all set to carry the momentum in the campaign 2023. Toto Wolff was delighted after the win and told sky sports F1, “He had a fantastic day today, he had the pace, withstood the pressure at the end, and it was really great But also a word about Lewis, he was pushed out, he came back and a 1-2 overall for the team is such a great result.”

Adding further, he said, “They are both alpha drivers, and this is good. We don’t want a puppy in the car. We manage that as well as we can.”

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After an astonishing performance in the Brazil GP, do you think Mercedes can finish their season on P2 in the WCC?