Toto Wolff left feeling ‘forever ashamed’ after the ‘dumbest thing I’ve done’

Toto Wolff has admitted he will “be forever ashamed” by his radio message to George Russell after Lando Norris and Max Verstappen collided to hand Mercedes victory in the Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen and Norris collided in the closing laps of the race at the Red Bull Ring, opening the door for Mercedes ‘ first F1 victory since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Toto Wolff opens up on ‘seriously embarrassing’ team radio message

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The contact between Norris and Verstappen drew an excitable response from Wolff, who took to team radio to tell Russell : “We can win this.”

Wolff’s message came as Russell was braking at the end of a long straight, with the British driver quipping that he “almost crashed” after his team boss’s transmission.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after the race, Wolff admitted his radio call to Russell was “the single dumbest thing” he has done since arriving at Mercedes in 2013.

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He said: “I think I know the drivers pretty well and what they need at times to encourage or to refocus, because I spend so much time with them. So I think I know the psychology.

“But this one is the single dumbest thing I’ve done in 12 years at Mercedes. I will be forever ashamed of this.

“You look at where you message the driver. You don’t do it on braking or in high-speed corners.

“But I didn’t look where he was on the GPS, I just saw these two taking each other out. We anticipated it and then I just emotionally pushed the button and said: ‘We can win this.’

“I could have taken him out with that message, imagine how that would have felt.

“I’m emotional. I enjoy us doing well and I enjoy seeing Lewis [Hamilton] and George doing well.

“I was just carried away with that situation and I think that’s what he said afterwards, but that was seriously embarrassing.”

Appearing in the post-race press conference, Russell added: “Suddenly I had Toto screaming in my ear: ‘You can win this’

“I almost crashed when he screamed into my ears, it was that loud. But I think it just goes to show the passion that we all share.

“It’s obviously been a tough couple of years for us and it feels great to be back on the top step.”

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