Wolff reveals the meaning of 'just drive' radio message to Russell after difficult stint
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14:31, 29 Jun
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Kada Sárközi joined GPblog as an editor ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. He graduated with a BA in Sports Journalism in the UK and has covered Grands Prix and other F1 events live.
Toto Wolff addressed the downward spiral his driver George Russell has experienced over the past weeks before winning in Austria. The team boss also warned against mood swings.
Russell returned to winning ways at the Austrian Grand Prix. It was his first victory in Formula 1 since the season-opening weekend in Melbourne, Australia.
Speaking to GPblog, among others, Mercedes team boss Wolff discussed Russell's situation. He said: "It's such a high pressure environment that you can have a young teammate and you know that's your year, and then he's so strong, you have a DNF, you're falling behind. I think, like every top athlete, you can kind of get yourself in a spiral, and then it's not a spiral it's not a spiral of negativity, it's more a spiral of overthinking. ‘What can I do more? Where do I need to optimize?’
In Q2, after Russell made a mistake on his first lap, the Austrian told his driver to 'just drive' over the team radio. He continued: "Then sometimes you forget about the cohesions and it's just driving the car. This ‘just drive’ is something that we talk a lot about. It's just being in the moment of driving the car, don't overthink too much about the strategy that Kimi is doing. Drive the car as fast as you can and look at the tyre temperatures and don't burn them. So that's the only metrics you need to look at. And that's what I was trying to say."
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Wolff warns agains mood swings
The Austrian does not want to draw quick conclusions after just a single weekend. He explained: "In this sport we tend to, and it’s the same with some of our competitors, to swing between mania and depression. It's like one weekend we're the greatest and we are world champions and this is all fantastic, and the next weekend is five days later, it's a big depression that everything is s***, the upgrade didn't work, the engine is not what we wanted, but the weekend before it was actually the best. I think it is important to keep the balance, to keep the neutrality.
Wolff continued: "You're going to have swings in performance. You're going to have DNFs that go in your favor or not. And some you win, some you score solid points, some you lose. So the 22 races that we're going to have in the season, hopefully, that you need to optimize on that rather than to swing emotionally and then declare state of emergency and everything is s***.
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"I mean if you would have spoken about George 36 hours ago, you would have said 'his campaign is really not going' and 'is he ever going to recover?' Now, Sunday afternoon, he's the real deal. So, let's keep the trajectory, that's important. And that's why I've never had any doubt that this can go very long in the drivers’ championship in terms of who can potentially win. It's a three-way race at the moment, and that's why it's about scoring those points," the Austrian concluded.
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