Wolff on Russell's career: 'Maybe kept at Williams too long'

Toto Wolff acknowledges that George Russell may have stayed at Williams too long. Speaking to Motorsport.com the Mercedes team boss praised his young driver's achievements and looked back at the trajectory it took to get Russell to this point.

Russell became part of Mercedes' training programme in 2017. The following year, he became Formula 2 champion in his first year in that class, which was immediately followed by a promotion to Formula 1. As Mercedes did not have a place at that time, Russell was moved on to customer team Williams. At the time, Williams was in even worse shape than today and in the first two years Russell drove there, the Williams team managed to score just one point. But after a strong performance from Russell and Williams in 2021, the coveted promotion to Mercedes followed this season, at the expense of Valtteri Bottas.

Looking back at Russell's first victory in Formula 1 and the long journey leading up to it, Wolff is extremely proud of his protégé. " He is the first driver from our new training programme to manage to win a race," said the Mercedes team boss. "Of course Lewis is the most successful driver we have had. But now, six years later, Russell is a grand prix winner."

Wolff - who himself was not present at the Interlagos circuit to see Russell win - also acknowledges that Russell had to wait a long time for this opportunity. "At Williams, he had the best training he could get. Maybe a year too long. But the most relevant thing now is that he is a race winner, and well-deserved too."