“Lewis Hamilton would have probably taken him anyway”: Toto Wolff talks about George Russell asking for his 6th place back in the F1 Imola GP

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff explained the strategy call at Imola when George Russell pitted and Lewis Hamilton took his position in the final laps of the race. He mentioned that the former's hard tires could not have made it to the end of the race.

The Brackley team was seemingly not competitive with the top five teams during the F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. By the time the race reached its final phase, Russell was running P6 while his teammate trailed him with a three-second gap.

Russell had managed to stay ahead of Hamilton for the majority of the race. At this time, the team had a free pit-stop as Sergio Perez was over 26 seconds behind Hamilton so he could have pitted for fresher tires.

However, Mercedes decided to pit George Russell instead, making him lose the position to his teammate. Toto Wolff explained that this was because his laptimes were getting slow and Perez could have been a threat.

"His laptimes were getting slower and slower, and our way of forecast at that time was saying he's not going to make it to the end, and we didn't want to lose the position to Perez, so that was the call," Wolff told Sky Sports.

When inquired about Russell asking to let by later in the race but not being allowed by the team, Wolff mentioned that Hamilton "would have probably taken him."

"Well, Lewis Hamilton would have probably taken him anyway, but the point being that, you know, we are racing four P6 and P7, and we just at least wanted to keep the red bull behind it, so it was a safety call."

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George Russell "not going to sulk" after losing position to teammate Lewis Hamilton

For George Russell, who was leading his teammate for most part of the race, the strategy call to pit might have been a letdown. Moreover, he was not allowed to take the position back from Lewis Hamilton.

After finishing the race in P7, Russell told the media that he was "not going to sulk" over losing the position. He also mentioned that he was leading on Hamilton for most of the weekend.

"As a driver, you want to finish [in] the highest position possible and all weekend I’d being ahead of my team-mate," he said. I was ahead the whole race comfortably, and then that was sort of just losing the position for the sake of it."

"So we’ve got the extra point, but as I said, I’m not going to sulk about it tonight. It’s P6, it’s not for a podium or victory."

Mercedes' performance has remained a major issue in the 2024 season as well. The team has had a disappointing start and stands in fourth place in the championship.