Damon Hill urges Mercedes to ‘back George Russell harder’ amidst ‘team-mate’ talk

Making mistakes in Canada, Damon Hill thinks George Russell is pushing too hard to establish himself as Mercedes’ lead driver amidst constant chatter about his incoming team-mate.

George Russell lined up on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix but after 70 laps of rain, shine and in his own words “too many errors”, he was P3 behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Mercedes need to back George Russell ‘a bit harder’

Such were his troubles on the day that Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff came onto the radio to tell him “focus George, focus”.

Wolff downplayed the significance of that, saying “sometimes” he talks to his drivers with a “little bit of advice maybe that can be helpful”.

But Hill has pondered whether that could have the opposite effect on a driver trying to establish himself as the team’s number one driver.

And doing so at a time when Mercedes are “all the time” talking about who could his new team-mate with Wolff publicly courting Max Verstappen while saying Kimi Antonelli is “definitely” a part of Mercedes’ future.

“Nobody’s perfect are they?” the 1996 World Champion told Sky F1’s post-Canada podcast.

“You get to the sharp end, you get the focus, everyone’s watching everything you do and criticising everything much more viciously, or at least being observant of any failure at all.

“I think it can be slightly undermining if you’re getting coached by your team boss over the radio during race, being told to focus.

“I think he knows what he’s doing, to quote a famous racing driver.

“But I do think that this is a problem for George because he’s been there at Mercedes, they haven’t had a great run, but he is definitely doing the job for them.

“Lewis is off to Ferrari next year, and he is trying to establish himself as the lead driver.

“And he’s yet to achieve that, I think because they’re talking all the time about who’s going to be his team-mate for next year rather than talking up George.

“I think Mercedes ought to back him a bit harder. They ought to give him a bit more confidence and then he doesn’t perhaps have to try so hard to prove himself in the race because it seems to me he’s trying to compensate a little bit for stuff.

“I think he needs to cool it. He’s got the speed, he’s got the abilities, he’s very intelligent. I’m sure he can deliver for them if they give him a bit more comfort there.”

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Is Russell ‘on the back foot’ as Mercedes court Verstappen?

As the Sky Sports pundits debated whether Mercedes’ “public courting of Verstappen” had put Russell on the “back foot slightly”, former W Series racer Naomi Schiff weighed in.

“While I agree with those sentiments,” she said, “we are talking about Formula 1. And at the end of the day, it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and the teams are going to be out there looking for the best possible driver.

“And if they have the hint right now that Max Verstappen is available or could be available at some point, then they would be silly to not attempt to get him on board. And I think George will understand that whilst it may be frustrating.

“That might be why he’s pushing so hard in this moment, as Damon said. He’s thinking, ‘What can I do to prove to them that I’m enough, we’ve got one moment here to potentially have a victory which we haven’t had the chance to have in many, many months. Could this be the one thing that I could do to calm them down and turn their heads away?’

“And every single performance on track at the moment is an audition for the drivers who are trying to prove themselves in whatever way they are trying to prove themselves, whether that’s securing a contract or making sure they’re seen as the number one driver. Every single last drive is what people remember. So I can understand why George is putting himself under some pressure.

“But yes, when Toto came on the radio, I thought to myself, ‘gosh’. I remember when my team bosses used to come on the radio would put the fear of God in me and I would think to myself, ‘What have I done that needs them to come on to the radio?’ So I don’t know if that’s helpful.

“Maybe he did need that calming voice. Maybe he did need someone to tell him ‘Look, just recentre, refocus, and you’ve got this but just stay focused’.”

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