Toto Wolff responds to Lewis Hamilton’s laugh at F1 team order after George Russell’s complaint

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had a cracking radio exchange with their Mercedes race engineers as the team endured a harrowing weekend in Brazil.

Radio scams were the “perfect sideshow” For Mercedesand#039; Real problems at the Brazilian GP, ​​said Toto Wolff.
Lewis Hamilton only finished eighth in the race, while George Russell fell behind his teammate when he had to retire. Wolff later said that the weekend was the worst in the 13-year history of the team.
However, the Grand Prix started promisingly. Both drivers started well off the line, while Fernando Alonso overtook Hamilton after the restart, leaving one Mercedes on track for second. This gave them the opportunity to work together. Russell specifically said he would not attack his teammate and said they should join forces to be angry when Hamilton left the DRS zone to leave him with a lurking Sergio Perez who passed them.
And Russelland’s mood did not improve before lap 17 when race engineer Ricardo Musconi asked him to service the tires. andquot;Do you want me to contest or give up seats? More control I go back, andquot; was his direct objection. And he wasn’t any happier when he sat on top of the slower Hamilton’s gearbox later in the race, unhappy they weren’t told to swap positions. andquot;I wasn’t on the radio, because I thought it was obvious in speed,andquot; was his message, laced with sarcasm.
Later, when Hamilton’s race engineer Pete Bonnington asked his driver to use the tires from time to time, the seven-time world champion responded with a laugh. Then he replied andquot;I’ve been around for the last five rounds, man,andquot; Both drivers are clearly not happy with the deteriorating tires and lack of speed.
With the Mercedes cars performing poorly, Wolff spent little time musing on the radio about the tensions between his drivers. He was asked about it after the race, but explained that he had other priorities at the moment.
andquot;I think the race [leadership] and the messages for us today are completely irrelevant,andquot; said the Austrian. andquot;There was nothing to deal with and nothing to say, it’s a complete sideshow. I think the main problem is that the car was slow.
andquot;So I don’t have a problem with things being aired or not, because whether it’s controversial or not, basically, if it’s not a show like that and it’s out and it’s out, who cares. ?andquot;