Toto Wolff insists George Russell’s loss of form is a ‘myth’

Russell is 57 points behind Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton this season but Wolff defended his driver

Toto Wolff insists any view of George Russell dramatically losing form in 2023 is a “myth” as the Mercedes boss defended his driver.

Russell, in his first season with Mercedes, finished above team-mate Lewis Hamilton in 2022 by 35 points – and also won the first F1 race of his career in Brazil – but has seen the roles reverse this year.

The 25-year-old is currently seventh in the world championship standings, 57 points behind Hamilton, and retired late on in Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix due to a puncture caused by a tangle with Lando Norris.

Yet Wolff believes talk of Russell’s under-performance in the first 13 races of this season have been exaggerated.

“I’ve never bought into this thought,” Wolff said, after Sunday’s race.

“When you and I are having a bad day, nobody knows, but if a driver has a bad day and he’s probably a tenth off, that makes all the difference in qualifying.

“So all drivers have days that are not so good and we’ve seen these ups and downs with George but the quality of the driver I’ve never doubted a minute.

Toto Wolff defended George Russell after the Dutch Grand Prix (Getty Images)

“He was able to shine [in qualifying], put the car on P3, had a problem-free qualifying and no traffic so I haven’t seen any pattern change.

“I’m trying to really bang it into his head that he hasn’t lost his form, that it is just the myth that he’s making up.

“You don’t unlearn to driver and you don’t lose your form. You can have ups and downs like all of us have but every single weekend when things have gone against him, it was pretty clear why that was and it wasn’t the driving.”

Russell has a chance to get back to points-scoring finishes this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.