Mercedes had cause for celebration with Lewis Hamilton finishing second, and Russell coming third, behind race-winner Ma꧙x Verst💜appen of Red Bull.

But they had to overcome a feisty moment when team principal Wolf𓄧f needed to intervene via the 💮team radio.

Russell was battling Sergio Perez for third but fe🔜lt the Red Bulꦅl driver had gained an illegal advantage.

Russell imp𒈔lored his team to demand a penalty: “Come ☂on, guys. We need to do something. He went straight on."

His engineer replied: "George, w♛e were n🙈ot ahead.” 

Russell ar✤gued: “Front wheel to rear wheel is the rule. It’s the rule when you're attacking - I was definitely front wheel to rear wheel.”

Wolff then interrupted and sai♔d: “George, keep your head down, you can hunt him down.”

Wolff later explained to Sky why he took action: “As🔜 a driver you get so upset with the situation. You feel that what has happened is not right.

“You also don’t see the helicopter view.

“I think he✨ had pace at the time, and could catch h🏅im on track.

“So I wanted to re-set him mentally.”

Wolff’s decis♛ion paid off when Mercedes ended the F1 French Grand Prix with both drivers on the podium, the first t💫ime that has happened in 2022.

Russell later reflected: “Emotion🍒s were high for all of us.

“I felt that I had done a mega-move on Checo but didn’t get to keep the posit🀅ion.

“I enjoyed hearing Toto on the radio!

“We’re in this together. When you sit in the car you 🥀can feel alone. You don’t know what the engineers look at. The engineers don’t know how wౠe feel in the car.

“Sometimes having 🌃these exchanges bring us close😼r together.”