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 crew 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. Workforce 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 crew “all the reasons” to re-sign him – was requested after the race if the consequence had offered an additional motivation to signal a brand new contract with Russell, whose present deal runs to the top of 2025.
Nonetheless, the Austrian acknowledged that the British racer has already completed 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 made out of that younger driver in Williams, then coming to Mercedes at a troublesome time, being on par with Lewis [Hamilton], after which since Lewis left being clearly the senior driver within the crew, and it comes pure,” Wolff defined.
“It is not like there’s some politics. He is simply taken the place that he deserves and deserves. The atmosphere within the crew is nice, and we have agreed on some type of timeline after we need to settle these items.
“With triple headers getting out of the way in which in a single race after the opposite now in June and July… however we’ll get there.
“He is been a Mercedes junior in the identical means 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 may need offered further motivation for Russell, Wolff mirrored: “These two guys [have] sat in go-karts and racing vehicles [for] greater than 10 years, and have fought one another and have identified one another off the monitor as effectively.
“I feel 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 suppose that’s significantly totally different going into the primary nook, whether or not there’s Max apart or George apart, they only need to come out forward.”
