The Mercedes boss admitted that the mistake of not serving the penalty was "clearly our fault." Russell finished 12th in Monaco and has now gone two consecutive Grands Prix without points.
George Russell is going through his worst moment of the season, the Mercedes driver scored his second consecutive zero at the Monaco Grand Prix after a race in which a poorly managed penalty cost him a podium that seemed within reach. Toto Wolff, the German team boss, came to his defense and assured that he has no doubt that the Briton will return to his best level very soon.
Russell arrived in Monaco hoping to reverse his bad luck after what happened in Canada, where he was leading the race before a power unit problem forced him to retire, but the principality was not favorable to him, the Briton qualified a distant sixth almost four tenths behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli, and during the race he climbed positions until he reached podium position thanks to retirements and problems from his rivals.
The mistake came at the key moment, Russell received a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and when he entered the pits during a safety car to change tires, Mercedes did not serve the driver's penalty. The confusion cost him a drive through that relegated him to twelfth final position, out of the points: "I'm not sure what the reason for the penalty was, but not serving the stop was clearly our mistake, we need to review our communication" admitted Wolff.
Russell's bad streak allowed Antonelli to open a 68 point gap over his teammate, who has also fallen to third position in the championship behind Lewis Hamilton. Wolff did not want to dramatize and preferred to put what happened into perspective: "The Montreal race was for him to win, we let him down, today we could probably have had a podium if it wasn't for the penalty error, I spoke to him yesterday and today, this is a long championship, luck is sometimes for you and sometimes against" he reflected.
The Mercedes boss ruled out any concern about his driver's performance: "Formula 1 is physical, not mystical, you don't forget how to drive. I'm not worried about his performance because we know he is one of the best, I couldn't ask for a better combination than our two drivers and I have no doubt that George will come back very strong to help us win the constructors' championship" concluded Wolff.
Russell will have another chance at redemption at the next Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks, Mercedes needs to score points with both cars if it wants to maintain its lead in the constructors' championship. The team trusts that the Briton's slump will be just a bad memory and that he will return to fighting for wins.
