Wolff urged to help "weaker child" in Hamilton vs Russell Mercedes F1 battle

02 February 2023 , 18:26

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Toto Wolff may have to manage the power balance between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes this year (Image: Getty Images)

Toto Wolff must be "like a parent helping a weaker child" if one of his Mercedes drivers begins to struggle more than the other this year, according to one former Formula 1 racer.

Given Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time F1 champion with a wealth of experience, it would be easy to assume George Russell might be the one in need of some extra assistance. But the way things panned out last year told a different story.

Both of them were out of title contention due to their car, which was not as competitive as they would have liked. But overall, despite that difficulty, Russell was the most consistent across the year and finished his maiden campaign with the team with 35 points more than his fellow Brit.

Hamilton and Russell will both hope to fare better this year – a desire which will be largely dependent upon whether their car is any quicker, relative to their rivals. It remains to be seen how a battle for the championship might change the largely friendly dynamic between them thus far.

As for how team boss Wolff might manage that relationship, former F1 driver Emanuele Pirro thinks the Austrian needs to try to keep the power balanced. "At Red Bull, the distribution of roles between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez is clear. Max is the stronger driver," the Italian said.

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"But when you have two equal drivers, like Hamilton and Russell at Mercedes or [Charles] Leclerc and [Carlos] Sainz at Ferrari, the team boss then has to support the driver who has more difficulties. Like parents helping a weaker child.

Russell beat Hamilton to Mercedes' only win of the 2022 season (Andre Penner/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

"After that, in the difficult moments, the driver who can bring the extra flash of inspiration will prevail. That makes the difference between the teammates." Pirro did not offer an opinion as to who he believes might be in need of that helping hand from Wolff.

Russell is feeling confident heading into his second season with Mercedes – so much so that he has a warning for Hamilton and any other rivals. "He told GPFans : "I definitely feel ready to fight for world championships.

"I don't look back on any [2022] races with regret because ultimately, we did an incredibly good job just to be able to fight for these positions. The fact is victory was always a little bit out of sight because we just [didn't] have the performance."

Daniel Moxon