The United States Grand Prix stewards’ decision did not sit well with the Mercedes team principal.
The decision to give George Russell a five-second time penalty at the US Grand Prix infuriated Toto Wolff.
At Turn 12, the Silver Arrows driver plunged down the inside of his Kick Sauber rival, consolidating his position by using up all of the track on his way out of the corner, while Russell and Valtteri Bottas, the man he replaced at Mercedes, went wheel to wheel.
In order to avoid colliding with Russell, Bottas swerved off course. Russell was shocked to hear the penalty announced over the team radio and responded, “What?!”
“Total joke with the penalty George,” Wolff jumped in to tell Russell, clearly upset. A complete farce.
Since Russell had to start from pit lane at the Circuit of the Americas due to necessary repairs being made when his car was supposed to be sealed under parc ferme conditions, the odds were stacked against him from the beginning.
The 26-year-old was weaving through the crowd when he ran into Bottas. He believed he had passed the Finn without any problems until the Mercedes garage informed him of the time penalty.
Three years ago, when the drivers blamed one another for a high-speed collision at the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that eliminated both of them from the race, tensions between Russell and Bottas boiled.
In his cockpit, Russell confronted Bottas, implying that he had defended ninth place more forcefully than usual because of the rumors that they were essentially fighting for the same Mercedes seat. Russell quickly apologized after Wolff referred to that as “bull***t” and promised to talk to him.
His words, “It wasn’t my proudest day,” “I knew it would be one of the best chances to score points this season, and sometimes you have to take chances when those points are as important to us as they are right now. I must accept responsibility for the fact that it didn’t work out.
“Now that I’ve had time to think about what transpired, I realize I ought to have handled the entire situation more skillfully. In the heat of the moment, emotions can run high, and mine overcame me. I apologize to my team, Valtteri, and anybody else who was disappointed by what I did. I expect more of myself because I know what other people expect of me, and that’s not who I am.”
When Russell took Bottas’ place at the beginning of the 2022 season, he beat Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship standings right away, something his predecessor had never done.
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