F1 News
Wolff sees his dream crushed: 'Russell could've avoided those mistakes'
Toto Wolff admits he saw a chance of victory for Mercedes in the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix. Wolff saw those dreams crushed after George Russell made avoidable mistakes in Montreal. Still, Mercedes took home 28 points from the race in North America, joint most with McLaren.
Lewis Hamilton was furious at his own performance, and Russell himself admitted that he should've won the race. The younger Brit at Mercedes lost control of the car at one stage, and then later made a risky move on Oscar Piastri.
Wolff's dream was crushed
"The victory was a long shot or a short dream when George was on the hard. He was catching up, and had some really strong pace. For a second we thought about it, but you mustn't be too greedy," Wolff told Sky Sports after the race.
At one point, Wolff had to come on the team radio and tell Russell to "focus." Wolff continued to highlight Russell's mistakes. "That pass [on Piastri] in that corner was never on. He was taking some risk, and he just tried very hard. And this one was maybe a bit too ambitious and cost the position, but he regained that afterwards," Wolff added.
"On the other side maybe there was one or two [mistakes] that we could have avoided. But we need to take the positives. The car has made a real step forward with bringing bits and the development direction is true," Wolff concluded.
Mercedes will now wait until the Spanish Grand Prix for confirmation of their competitive levels compared to Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren.
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4 October 2024
