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Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff has admitted that he’s less concerned by driver George Russell’s radio complaints than the team’s lack of pace at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Silver Arrows had their worst race result in Brazil in 13 years as seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton passed the chequered flag in eighth and No. 2 driver Russell in 15th after retiring the car.<\/p>\n
During the race, Russell could be heard on the team radio complaining, especially when he found himself closely following his teammate, Hamilton. Wolff, however, says he’s more concerned about the car’s performance, with the team’s last win coming in Brazil in 2022 as Russell topped an F1 podium for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the race [management] and the messages for us today are completely irrelevant,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was nothing to manage or nothing to say, it\u2019s a complete sideshow. I think the fundamental issue is that the car was slow. So I\u2019ve no problem with things being broadcasted or not because whether it\u2019s controversial or not, fundamentally if there\u2019s no performance like that and it\u2019s off then who cares?\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell branded Mercedes’ time in Sau Paulo as a “really strange weekend”, with the Brit having no answer to the car’s lack of performance. The dropoff in South America came following a string of impressive results that saw Hamilton fight for podiums.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe had a cooling problem that we couldn\u2019t get under control for the last 20 laps,\u201d explained Russell. \u201cIt had no influence on our lack of performance. Really strange weekend, probably by far the slowest weekend of our year. So, we need to understand why because we had high expectations coming into this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wolff and Mercedes are two races out from the 2023 campaign being concluded and this season will be seen as a massive failure considering the hype surrounding a potential comeback into competition with rivals Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Second in the constructors’ championship, however, is within reach but Ferrari is not too far behind.<\/p>\n
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