Russell almost retires during the Brazilian Grand Prix
George Russell took his first Formula 1 victory on Sunday, starting from pole position in the sprint race. However, it wasn't all plain sailing for the British driver, who almost retired with a mechanical problem during the race.
Toto Wolff, the CEO of Mercedes, who was not present this weekend at Interlagos during the Brazilian Grand Prix, confirmed to the media that Russell’s car had a mechanical issue. The Mercedes experienced a water pump leak, but the engineers chose not to inform the driver of the problem in order to avoid adding additional stress.
“I think he deserved to win at the Bahrain Grand Prix but he was let down by the car,” explained Toto Wolff during a conference. “That’s why today we are very happy and can finally say that he has his first victory in Formula 1.”
Lewis Hamilton was close to his teammate at the start and during the final laps of the Grand Prix, adding pressure on the shoulders of George Russell, who was determined to secure his first victory in F1. When the engineers detected a leak on the Mercedes, the team preferred not to inform their driver: “We had a water leak on the car during the race, and it wasn’t very clear whether we could go all the way with it or not,” confirmed Toto Wolf. “We discussed this during the race conference and agreed not to notify the driver about this problem until the end.”
