Toto Wolff warns George Russell in 'state of emergency' plea

George Russell's rollercoaster F1 season has prompted Toto Wolff to urge the Briton to keep his emotions in check across the gruelling 22-round campaign, warning against the temptation to swing between extremes after every result.

Russell's Austrian Grand Prix victory on Sunday, his second win of the year following the season opener in Melbourne, came just days after serious questions had been asked about his title credentials.

A power-unit failure while leading in Canada and a pointless finish in Monaco had seen team-mate Kimi Antonelli open up a 68-point advantage in the drivers' standings during a remarkable five-race winning streak from China to the weekend in the Principality.

That gap is now down to 40 points after Russell's Spielberg win and Antonelli's third-place finish, which followed on from his late retirement in Spain.

However, Wolff was keen to stress the importance of emotional stability, having already explained the "spiral of overthinking" the former got into.

"In this sport we tend to, and the same with some of our competitors, to swing between mania and depression," the Mercedes team principal told media, including RacingNews365.

"It's like one weekend we're the greatest, and we are world champions, and this is all fantastic. And the next weekend, five days later, is the big depression, that, 'everything is s**t, the upgrade didn't work, the engine is not what we wanted'. But the weekend before it was actually the best.

"I think it's important to keep the balance, to keep the neutrality. You're going to have swings in performance, you're going to have DNFs that go in your favour or not, and some you win, some you score solid points, some you lose.

"And it's over the 22 races that we're going to have in the season, hopefully, that you need to optimise on that, rather than to swing emotionally, and then declare a state of emergency, and everything is down the s**t."

'Is he ever going to recover?'

Wolff pointed to the Austrian weekend itself as proof of how quickly the narrative can shift in Formula 1.

Russell struggled early in the round — whilst Antonelli dominated — before claiming pole and converting it into a well-managed victory, beating Max Verstappen by 1.6 seconds.

"If you would have spoken about George 36 hours before the race, we would have said this campaign is really not going [well], and is he ever going to recover? Now, he's the real deal," the Austrian said.

With Antonelli on 171 points, Russell on 131 and Lewis Hamilton third on 125, the title fight remains wide open heading towards the second half of the season.

For Russell, the message from his team boss is clear: stay level-headed, keep scoring, and let the championship take care of itself.

Wolff added: "So, let's keep the trajectory; that's important, and that's why I have never had any doubt that this can go very long in the driver championship, who can potentially win; there's a three-way race at the moment, and that's why it's about scoring those points."