Toto Wolff makes intriguing team orders admission between Hamilton and Russell

Toto Wolff has revealed Mercedes would have considered swapping George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to protect the win had the Belgian GP been one lap longer.

Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix may have been a slow-burner but there was late-race excitement as George Russell grabbed the lead off his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton having gone with a one-stopper to Hamilton’s two pit stops.

Toto Wolff was ‘happy’ he didn’t have to make a team order call

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Hamilton was on much fresher tyres and closed in on Russell near the end of the Grand Prix with Mercedes’ pit wall giving the team-mates the freedom to race.

The message was simple: “Just make sure you give each other plenty of space.”

Hamilton, however, couldn’t even launch an attack on his team-mate as Russell showed his composure to cross the line half a second ahead.

But as the team-mates ran wing-to-wing in the closing laps, they were hunted down by Oscar Piastri who took five seconds back in nine laps to get within DRS range of Hamilton heading into the 44th and final lap.

The trio crossed the line with a measly 1.173 seconds separating all three.

It had Wolff conceding that if the race had been one lap more, Mercedes may have swapped Russell and Hamilton to preserve the win as Russell would’ve still joined his team-mate on the podium – before the disqualification drama occurred.

“Well, not for team orders,” Wolff told the media including PlanetF1.com when asked if Mercedes thought of using team orders given Piastri’s pace.

“But probably if we had one more lap that could have been a consideration because it would have protected P1 and George would have finished P3.

“But I’m happy that we didn’t have to make this call.”

More reaction to Mercedes’ Belgian GP victory and DSQ

👉 Lewis Hamilton draws attention to race strategists after ‘never told’ Russell plan

👉 Explained: Why FIA disqualified George Russell from winning the Belgian Grand Prix

Alas, Russell subsequently lost the race win when his car was disqualified for a technical infringement when it was found to be 1.5kg under the minimum stipulated weight of 798kg.

But while Mercedes lost their first 1-2 result since Brazil 2022, they still bagged their third victory in four races to extend their six-race podium streak.

Wolff isn’t getting carried away.

“I think we need to remain both feet on the ground,” he said.

“The swings in performance, I mean you see a trend definitely that’s positive on our side. With some other teams you see a negative trend.

“I don’t think we should really pre-empt how the second half of the season is going to go.

“I think it’s a tough fight. There’s four teams ahead that are giving it everything. So I think we can be carefully optimistic. But, you know, we gotta prove it is, there’s 10 races to go.”

Although Mercedes are still fourth in the Constructors’ Championship , they continue to take points out of Ferrari in the fight for third with the gap down to 79 points.

Read next: Belgian GP conclusions: Mercedes fireworks? Game over for Perez and Jos Verstappen factor