Toto Wolff has admitted that George Russell’s Canadian Grand Prix victory has no bearing on when the squad would possibly agree a brand new deal for the Briton, with the group boss stating that the Silver Arrows already “know he can carry out”.
Russell loved a powerful weekend in Montreal, having claimed pole place in Saturday’s Qualifying earlier than taking each his and the Brackley-based outfit’s first win of the season on Sunday. Staff mate Kimi Antonelli added to the celebrations by claiming a maiden podium in third.
As such, Wolff – who conceded after Russell’s pole that the 27-year-old was giving the group “all the explanations” to re-sign him – was requested after the race if the outcome had supplied an additional motivation to signal a brand new contract with Russell, whose present deal runs to the tip of 2025.
Nevertheless, the Austrian acknowledged that the British racer has already achieved sufficient to show himself since becoming a member of the outfit from Williams again in 2022.
“He is been so lengthy with us and he is rising – the steps he is constituted of that younger driver in Williams, then coming to Mercedes at a tough time, being on par with Lewis [Hamilton], after which since Lewis left being clearly the senior driver within the group, and it comes pure,” Wolff defined.
“It isn’t like there’s some politics. He is simply taken the place that he deserves and deserves. The atmosphere within the group is nice, and we have agreed on some sort of timeline once we need to settle this stuff.
“With triple headers getting out of the way in which in a single race after the opposite now in June and July… however we will get there.
“He is been a Mercedes junior in the identical method that Kimi was since he was 16, so it is not depending on whether or not he wins a race, whether or not he performs, as a result of we all know he can.”
There had been a lot anticipation previous to Sunday’s race over how the battle between Russell and Max Verstappen would possibly play out, with the pair lining up on the entrance row collectively only one race after they controversially collided in Spain.
When quizzed on whether or not this incident might need supplied further motivation for Russell, Wolff mirrored: “These two guys [have] sat in go-karts and racing automobiles [for] greater than 10 years, and have fought one another and have identified one another off the monitor as nicely.
“I believe they’re very civilised once they see one another. It is simply on monitor, it is a fierce battle, totally different characters, totally different personalities.
“I do not assume that’s notably totally different going into the primary nook, whether or not there’s Max apart or George apart, they simply need to come out forward.”
