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Russell’s ‘tough love’ from Wolff after Imola crash
Date published:
June 3 2021
George Russell has revealed he received “a lot of tough love” from Toto Wolff following his crash with Valtteri Bottas at Imola.
The Williams driver is ‘on loan’ from Mercedes for a third year and his career continues to be managed by the World Champions’ co-owner and team principal, Wolff.
Given that, and the fact he is being strongly linked with a Mercedes drive from next year onwards, colliding with Bottas while trying to overtake him and putting them both out of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was not a smart move.
AFTER Scorton’s Max Coates unveiled his challenger for the 2021 Mini Challenge at Croft Circuit last week, another local young star will join him with the news that Northallerton’s Ethan Hammerton will also contest the series after joining forces with title-winning EXCELR8 Motorsport for his second year in the series. The 20-year-old made the step into the Mini Challenge class 12 months ago, having previously gained a wealth of experience in tin-top racing despite his relatively young age. A vice-champion in both the Junior Saloon Car Championship and the Renault Clio Cup Junior series after first making the move into car racing, Ethan went on to secure podium finishes in the VW Racing Cup and was a race winner in the Renault Clio Cup during the 2019 campaign.
Wolff shuts the door on driver collusion question
Date published:
May 1 2021
Asked whether expecting George Russell to treat the Mercedes drivers as his team-mates amounted to collusion, Toto Wolff refused to answer.
Last time out at Imola, Russell was racing Bottas for position when he made a mistake and took both cars out of the grand prix.
Wolff was furious, especially as the Mercedes junior driver, who races for Williams, took out a Mercedes.
Threatening Russell with a demotion to the Renault Clio Cup, Wolff later spoke of the Brit taking risks when the “other car is a Mercedes in front of you.”