Toto Wolff makes George Russell claim as Mercedes contract talks rumble on

Toto Wolff has labelled George Russell as "formidable" and highlighted a step up from his Mercedes team leader as contract talks continue after his Singapore GP victory.

Russell dominated the Marina Bay race from pole to record a second win of the season, and to help Mercedes cement second place in the constructors', now 27 points clear of Ferrari. 

Russell is out of contract at the end of the current season, with he and Wolff locked in negotiations over fresh terms, and whilst both parties are confident an agreement is just a matter of time, pen has yet to be put to paper confirming the extension. 

Now into his fourth season at Mercedes, Russell is enjoying his strongest campaign in F1, scoring two wins and eight podiums overall, and is on course to beat his record points tally of 275 from 2022. 

Reflecting on Russell's performance and situation, Wolff was full of praise for Russell's maturity and speed.

"He's been formidable this year, I haven't seen any mistakes, and there were some weekends that he himself said: 'I could have done more and this wasn't a good race,'" Wolff explained to media, including RacingNews365. 

"But this happens with any driver, but you can see that with the car being in a perfect space and the driver being on top of things, you can have a dominant formula, and that's what we've seen here.

"Contract-wise, good things take a while; it is about the detail and not about the big topics."

Wolff also touched upon Russell's growth as Mercedes team leader, in the wake of an episode of Netflix's Drive to Survive, which appeared to show his doubts about Russell, with the Austrian providing emphatic backing to the Briton.

"I think we've seen George in the past have these moments," Wolff said, with reference to Russell's last lap crash in 2023 at Marina Bay from third place.

"But not recently, and that's the step up he has made, and this year, these things don't happen. He was in control all race, eking out an advantage and managing it when Max was a bit closer, and there was never any moment of doubt or was there any risk in his driving.

"If you had told me we would dominate in the way we did, I would not have believed it, but from the get-go, tyres, driver, and car were just in sync."