Austrian Grand Prix winner George Russell reckoned he "almost crashed" when Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told him he could win over his team radio, en route to securing his second Formula 1 victory. Russell capitalised on the raging lead battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris , which boiled over with seven laps remaining in dramatic fashion as the two made contact at Turn 3, handing punctures to both drivers. The Mercedes driver caught the slowing duo through Turn 8 to take the lead, and maintained enough of a gap over Oscar Piastri to ensure he could pick up the pieces and claim the win.
When it became apparent that Russell could collect the lead, Wolff shot over the radio to tell Russell "you can win this", which Russell curtly replied to his team principal to "let him drive". The Briton suggested that Wolff's message had not come at a particularly helpful time. Reflecting on his race, Russell added that the car had felt "strange" on the way to the grid, but pre-race checks had indicated that all was well.
"The pace felt strong. The problem I had, Lewis [Hamilton] attacked me early in the race," Russell recounted. "But then once I got back past him, I got a bit of a gap to Carlos [Sainz].
I knew Oscar [Piastri] was going to be quick and he sort of came a little bit out of nowhere towards the end of the race. "On those hard tyres for me was pretty difficult. And then suddenly I had Toto screaming in my ear, "you can win this!" "I almost crashed when he screamed into my e.
