Wolff lauds Russell’s ‘unbelievable’ Bahrain drive amid setbacks

Toto Wolff hailed George Russell’s “unbelievable drive” at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where the British driver secured a hard-fought second place despite grappling with multiple technical issues on his Mercedes W16.

Russell’s composure under pressure earned high praise from the team principal, who highlighted his driver’s skill in managing a “wounded” car to clinch a podium finish.

The Briton’s race was marred by a cascade of problems. A transponder failure made tracking his car difficult, while issues with the brake-by-wire system, steering wheel display, and DRS compounded the challenge.

The DRS glitch even prompted a stewards’ investigation, though Russell escaped punishment by backing off to avoid gaining an advantage.

Overcoming Technical Chaos

“Brake by wire failed suddenly, and then it took a while to find the settings to reset it, but we did that,” explained Wolff who likened the issue to a road car losing power steering.

“If you haven't driven a race car that has a BBW [brake by wire] or conventional brakes, it's like on a road car when the power steering fails.

“Then imagine you have to adjust between one corner having it and the next one not having it. That was just very good skill.”

Despite these setbacks, Russell fended off McLaren’s Lando Norris.

“Him managing the system, coming in and out, whilst having Norris behind him is just an unbelievable drive, to be honest,” added Wolff.

“What he did secured us this podium...considering the car was wounded, finishing P2 in front of Norris is just a really great result.”

Mastering Tyre Strategy

Russell’s resilience shone in the race’s final stages, where he nursed used soft tyres for 25 laps to hold his position. Again, Wolff praised this tactical brilliance.

“On top of that, taking the soft for such a long time was also great between managing and then attacking when he needed to.”

This effort was crucial, as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, on medium tyres, won by 15 seconds. Yet Wolff remained optimistic about Mercedes’ progress.

"We would have expected that Bahrain would have been one of the very difficult ones for us because of the warm ambient temperature and the very granular, rough circuit.

“We qualified P2 and P4, we had a car that was able to be solidly on the podium, and that is better than we expected. You can [only] call a race a success if you win, but in the circumstances one could say it was much better than we expected.

“Probably today we were missing a few tenths. I don't know how we would have performed on the medium at the end. When a car is performing in the way that McLaren does, then it's everything. It's just good engineering.

“They have the performance in the chassis, and they are able to nurture the tyres better than everybody else. And they have a great engine...” Wolff concluded, tongue-in-cheek.

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