Toto Wolff says George Russell is talked less about in F1 especially against other names, as he rates him to be among the Top 3 drivers on the grid.
For years, Mercedes has had Lewis Hamilton’s name at the forefront. He won world championships and was always in headlines. At that time, the team was preparing Russell for the main seat. They put him in Williams for three seasons before taking him in as a replacement of Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton continued to enjoy the head status at Mercedes, as Russell started to find his ground as a youngster. When the former decided to leave for Ferrari, the F1 team was in two minds for a while to go ahead with the latter as their leader alongside a rookie i.e Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
They had options of other senior drivers without the seat. But eventually they settled in for Antonelli after seeing that Russell can take that mantle. He has proven it so far after back-to-back podiums against his name to start the 2025 F1 season and slot himself in third in the drivers’ standings.
Team boss Wolff gave him 10 out of 10 for his performance in China and feels he is not talked about much, when he is certainly among the Top 3 drivers on the grid. The chief is not stressed about someone else taking him away from Mercedes either, considering his contract is to expire.
“George is a warrior in the car and outside of it,” said Wolff to media. “I normally never give a race a 10, because it can always be better. We haven’t seen the perfect race yet. But considering the conditions in which George drove, this was a solid 10 [in China]. He got everything out of the car, the tyres, and the strategy. It was a brilliant performance.
“All these discussions around Lewis, because he’s the biggest person in the sport leaving to Ferrari, it’s a great story. Kimi coming in as the youngest driver and the high potential, and little was said about George. I always said that’s not right because he’s one of the top drivers out there.
“If you want me to name three that I consider to be the top [drivers], he’s absolutely among those three, if not top two, and maybe on his way to top one….philosophically. George is a Mercedes driver. We love having him in the team, he’s a junior driver and a Mercedes grown talent and that’s something to be proud of. This is where the consideration goes,” summed up Wolff.
Here’s Valtteri Bottas testing McLaren
Here’s Mercedes on Chinese GP
