F1 | Russell: after the missed opportunity we need a leap in quality

It is the fifty-second lap of the Canadian Grand Prix when Toto Wolff opens the radio channel connected to George Russell. The Mercedes team principal says three words: “Concentrate, George, concentrate”. There are those who read the message as an encouragement, and those who instead read it as a rebuke (worldwide) for the mistake just made. At the end of the race Wolff was diplomatic: “On the one hand it was a brilliant race, on the other hand there were one or two mistakes that we could have avoided. But we have to take the positive aspects.”

Russell’s third place finish, which came twenty-four hours after pole position, brought Mercedes their first podium of the season, but at the end of the race the atmosphere was that of a missed opportunity. After having capitalized as best he could on the start from first position, Russell maintained the lead of the race until the twenty-first lap, when in an attempt to resist Lando Norris’s assault, George jumped the chicane before the finishing straight, also being overtaken by from Verstappen. Five laps later, with the safety car entering the track, McLaren left Norris on the track one lap too many, and Russell found himself in second position, still behind Verstappen.

When the track dried (lap 45) Russell and Verstappen moved from intermediate to hard. The initial laps were not easy due to the low temperatures which made it difficult to bring the tires up to temperature, and in this phase Norris had the #63 Mercedes behind him. At Turn 8 Russell, under pressure, jumped on the inside curb, losing his line and being overtaken by Norris on exit. This was the moment when Wolff asked his driver for greater concentration. An appeal that Russell partly ignored, given that with six laps to go he was forced to take the escape route of the final chicane again in an attempt to attack Russell, a circumstance in which he was also overtaken by Hamilton.

George then recovered the position from his teammate and Piastri, regaining third position at the last minute, but the potential shown by Mercedes at the end would have allowed him something more. “I made too many mistakes that cost me the chance to win – Russell later admitted – other riders also made mistakes, but I paid a higher price”. “He had a really fast pace – added Wolff – we believed in the possibility of finishing in second position”.

For the first time since Formula 1 entered the ‘ground effect’ era, Mercedes has brought a single-seater capable of winning a race to the track. The start from pole position, and the pace in the initial twenty laps, confirmed this possibility, then Russell’s errors definitively closed the possibility of fighting for first place. In this scenario, Wolff’s radio team appears more of a reproach than an encouragement. The evolution of the single-seater is giving encouraging signs, but Wolff himself has postponed everything to Barcelona (“it will be a good test because that track has all types of corners”) to be certain of the opportunities that may exist in the future.

Other opportunities could come for Russell, but parole is a must. Hence Wolff’s disappointment, aware that without a single-seater that guarantees competitiveness on every track and in every condition you have to be ready to seize every opportunity. Russell is the present and the future, at least in the short term, of the team. From next year he will have to take the team on his shoulders if, as it seems, rookie Kimi Antonelli will be alongside him. And for this reason Mercedes is asking George for a final leap in quality, which has now become indispensable to become the team’s point of reference.