Ted Kravitz told the parents of George Russell he deserves a bonus from Mercedes for his selfless actions.
Russell sacrificed sixth place towards the end of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, allowing team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pass him while he pitted. The former was on ageing tyres that were six laps older than Hamilton’s behind him.
Despite querying the situation with the Mercedes engineers, he was informed he wouldn’t regain that position when returning to the track – forcing him to settle for six points in the drivers’ championship instead of a possible eight.
However, he did manage to claw back one point by registering the fastest lap – giving Mercedes a small boost in the constructors’ standings.
Discussing the incident on Ted’s Race Notebook, Kravitz said:
“I would suggest if I was Mercedes, I would give George some kind of bonus, and a sort of thank you very much present for sacrificing the glorious P6 and getting the fastest lap for the team.”
He had come across Russell’s parents, dad Steve and mum Alison, who were speaking to his Sky Sports colleague Naomi Schiff and laughed off his comments, reports the Express. Kravitz added: “If I was George I would demand an extra tot of rum, going back to a sort of naval tradition.”
Russell played down the situation, telling Sky in his post-race debrief:
“You’re never going to be happy with P6 and P7. At the end of the day, as a team we scored an extra point. I lost my position to Lewis but I’m not going to sulk over losing a P6.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff explained the strategic pit stop decision after the race.
“His lap times were getting slower and slower, and our forecast saw he was not going to make it to the end and we didn’t want to lose the position to [Sergio] Perez,” Wolff said.
“Lewis would have probably taken him anyway. The point being that we are racing for P6 and P7 and wanted to keep the Red Bull behind. It was a safety call.”
Both Russell and Hamilton have acknowledged that the team is in “no man’s land” following a disappointing start to the season. They currently stand seventh and eighth respectively after seven races, with Mercedes ranking fourth in the constructors’ standings.
