F1 News: Toto Wolff To Approach George Russell Over "Scrappy" Year - "Everyone Needs Feedback"
George Russell experienced a contrasting 2023 season compared to his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who finished second in the drivers' standings. The ups and downs led the 25-year-old driver to express relief that the season had finally ended. Thus, team principal Toto Wolff intends to engage in discussions with him before the team moves on with the record-breaking 2024 season.
Key Takeaways:
- George Russell had a challenging 2023 season, expressing relief at its conclusion, and team principal Toto Wolff plans to discuss the season with him before moving on to 2024.
- Despite issues with the W13 car in the ground effect era, Russell was the only Mercedes driver to win a Grand Prix in 2022, making him a strong competitor to teammate Lewis Hamilton.
- However, Russell's performance declined in 2023, with only two podium finishes, finishing eighth in the championship standings, in contrast to Hamilton's six podiums and a 59-point lead over Russell.
Despite the problems Mercedes encountered with its W13 car when Formula 1 entered the ground effect era in 2022, Russell was the only driver to have won a Grand Prix for the Brackley team during the year, therefore posing to be a strong competitor to Hamilton.
However, 2023 saw him go down the order as he managed to secure just two podium finishes during the season before securing the eighth in the championship standings, as opposed to Hamilton's six podium finishes with a 59-point advantage over Russell.
Russell described the 2023 season as "scrappy" and hence, Wolff plans to have a conversation with the young driver to try and push him to focus on the 2024 season. Speaking to the media, the team boss said:
“We will have a good conversation.
“Everybody needs some feedback. He’s a very strong character, and he came out of the summer very strong.
“He changed his approach a little bit, and that was good, and then it swung the other way around and Lewis performed extraordinarily well.”
