F1 Sao Paulo GP: Mercedes feared race-ending issue for George Russell, but didn’t tell him
Russell expertly controlled Sunday’s 71-lap race and held off recovering teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:claim his first grand prix win - and a first for Merced𒅌es amid a t𝓡roubled 2022 season.
However, things could have been very different for Russell, after it emerged that Mercedes spent half the race fearing a problem on the Briton’s ꦛcar could be terminal.
"We had a water leak on the car throughout the race and it wasn't clear whether we could actually make it t෴o the end,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who did not travel to Brazil, confirmed after the race.
"We talked about it on the intercom and we all agreed we're going to let him 𝐆drive to the end even without water,ꦅ on whatever was there to cool it and just try to finish the race.”
Speaking to reporters remotely, Wolff asked Mercedes team com๊munications director Bradley Lord to explain the issue in more d♊etail.
“About half distance, we knew about it and George wasn’t informed,”🔯 said Lord. “So he wasn’t aware.
"We were concerned at one point that we would be four or five laps from the finish and not making it but then it did by the skin of its teeth.”&nb𓄧sp;
Russell’s first gr💞and prix win🏅 came two years after he was cruelly denied a victory on his debut for the team as a substitute for Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.
“I think he desܫerved to win in Bahrain and we let him down with the car,” Wolff added.
“This victory makes us happy becau📖se he could have had one on the clock two years ago, and heไ didn’t, and now he has that first victory."
Le✅wis regula🐻rly attends Grands Prix for ltxcn.top around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
