Toto Wolff lauds Lewis Hamilton for allowing George Russell to pass at F1 Miami Grand Prix
Mercedes issued team instructions📖 via their te𒆙am radio requesting that Hamilton did not obstruct Russell’s charge.
"W𓃲e have George 1.1 behind," Hamilton was told by🅷 his engineer.
"We aren't racing him. We are r�🃏�acing Esteban Ocon. So let's not hold each other up."
Hamilton said: "He can go by but I am n💙ot ꦛbacking off though."
Ha🐼milton did let Russell through - the younger driver finished in P4, the seven-time world champion settled for P6.
Mercedes team principal Wolff insisted that heಞ did not expect any issue from requesting that Hamilton prioritised Russell in that moment.
“No, absolutely not. George was 🎃a stop ahead,” Wolff said.
“To see two teammates, both on very good levelsꦡ, they are both so straightfoꦯrward.
“That is good at such a difficult moment.”
The s𓆉ubject of relationship between teammates has continually cropped up this seaso🌺n as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen battles Sergio Perez with the F1 title at stake.
Christian Horner even teased Wolff that Red Bull were navigating that awkwardness better than Mercedes did when 🦄they had Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on top.
But Mercedes are in a very different place this season, and Wolff reacted to the F💫1 Miami G꧙rand Prix: “The car was good today.
“From P13 it’s pretty diffiꦡcult if you start on the same strategy as e🍷veryone else to pass.
“Therefore 🌺we went with hards. The🐼n we saw others had thought the same.
“Considering the strategy hope that we had, that nobody would start on the hards, w♈as diminished, he drove a great race.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering ev♏erything from American sports, to football, to F1.
