Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner has defended George Russell's Mercedes team radio outburst during the Mexico Grand Prix.
A delayed team orders call to swap positions with team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli left the British driver exasperated. With Oscar Piastri closing in behind him and what he felt was good pace in his tyres, Russell requested that he swap positions with Antonelli in front of him on lap 35. While Mercedes did not allow the pass, Russell was told he was "free to race".
After several laps of pushing for the team orders call, Russell's race engineer, Marcus Dudley, asked the driver to manage the "rear surface temperatures", to which he firmly responded, "Marcus, I've got a ****ing car in my ****. A car much quicker than ours. I'm trying to hold position. I've got much more pace than Kimi here and we can fight for a podium. I'm happy to give the position back if we don't achieve it."
When asked if the outburst was a sign of deeper trouble at Mercedes during The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner disagreed.
"It's not a sign of trouble. I mean, what else can he do? And I think he was right, actually, I think he was absolutely right. He said, I wore my tyres out trying to overtake my team-mate. I have nothing left.
"It was pretty obvious what happened there, but I don't think he's losing faith. He said, 'this is what I want to do.' They didn't let him do it and George said, OK, yeah, race for the team, but if the team doesn't look after himself to finish second in the world championship, what can I do?
"He doesn't have to blame himself, he said he couldn't guarantee that he will overtake the other ones. But he was like, I'm faster. [And then] oh, you're not faster anymore. After five laps trying to overtake your team-mate and wearing your brakes and your tyres out."
Mercedes allowed the pass on lap 41, but by that point Russell felt his tyres had worn too much and he was not able to overtake the cars ahead, so the positions were reversed before the end of the race.
Read and post comments