Toto Wolff explains why Mercedes must 'work' with George Russell

Toto Wolff has vehemently come to the defence of George Russell, who has endured an unexpectedly underwhelming and inconsistent F1 season.

Coming into the campaign, Russell was the bookmakers' favourite for the drivers' championship, and many anticipated that he would ease his way to his first title.

Not only has that not happened, but it has been Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli who has cruised to the crown, with the 20-year-old almost certainly going to be coronated at the upcoming Mexico City Grand Prix.

Despite the bitterly disappointing year for Russell, Wolff insists the British driver is one of the "very best" in Formula 1, even if he has fallen short of expectations.

"George, for all of us in the team, is a champion and has won in every category," the Mercedes team principal told media, including RacingNews365.

"And I think he merits being put in the group of the very best ones — we've seen that last year.

"This year, we see this variability in results. When we land the car in the way that suits him, he's absolutely fast.

"But when it drops out of that operational window, he struggles; and he struggles more than maybe Kimi."

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Russell slower than Antonelli?

Put plainly, Russell has too often been unable to extract the same level of performance from the W17 as Antonelli.

Whilst dominant on his day, too frequently the eight-time grand prix winner has had to play second fiddle to his team-mate, on top of experiencing more than his fair share of bad luck and reliability issues.

Further reflecting on the disparity in pace — not only between his two drivers, but also from when the car is performing as hoped and when it is outside of its ideal window — Wolff revealed Mercedes would work with Russell to close the delta to Antonelli.

"That is on us," the Austrian explained. "We just have to work it out with him on how there can be such a difference in performance, because George is not half a second slower, [or] three tenths slower than Kimi. It's just absolutely not the case.

"So what is it that he doesn't like? What is it that we need to do in terms of modifying the car, setting it up in a different way for him to go fast, because it's all there in intelligence, the ability, the determination."