Toto Wolff Confesses to Manipulating F1 Media Over Bottas-Russell Mercedes Claim

It’s become clear that Mercedes are leading the silly season in the driver’s market this year. With both their drivers running out of contract at the end of the season, CEO Toto Wolff has a big decision to make.

While Mercedes look to bounce back in Le Castellet this weekend, Wolff fielded questions about the driver lineup. He admits to joking about a comment he made earlier while giving an approximate timeline of when Mercedes will reveal their driver lineup for 2022.

Toto Wolff believes winter will be too late to reveal Mercedes’ 2022 line-up

Mercedes are in a tricky spot at the moment. While they are pushing to extend Lewis Hamilton’s contract, Valtteri Bottas‘ future with the Silver Arrows remains uncertain.

In addition, speculation regarding Williams’ George Russell replacing Bottas in 2022 continues to grow with each passing day.

This Friday, the Austrian answered questions about Mercedes’ 2022 driver line-up by saying that decision would be made in the winter. However, he did a quick U-turn on those comments earlier today, admitting to playing around with the media.

Wolff said, “I was just playing. We don’t wait until December. It’s too late.”

In addition, the 49-year-old mentioned revealing that decision in July would be too early for the Silver Arrows. “Too early. Something nice for Monza [perhaps], for you to have a nice story for example,” said Wolff.

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Wolff: It all comes down to performance

Although the choice is most likely between Bottas and Russell for 2022, Wolff highlighted consistent performance as the key criterion.

While Bottas’ performances for Mercedes have been noteworthy, the Finn’s struggles this season might call for a change in the line-up.

To make his point, the Austrian said, “The main driver is consistent performance. Especially in this difficult year, we need two drivers that are racing right there.

“If one is having an off weekend or DNFs, you need the other one to bring it home. And that’s why it’s always important that both are just on the max of their ability.”

Amidst all this speculation, Mercedes will look to focus on the current season. However, fans will remain on the edge of their seats until Wolff makes the final call for the Silver Arrows‘ 2022 driver line-up.

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