Untelevised Toto Wolff team radio emerges after George Russell DNF heartbreak
George Russell was signed by Toto Wolff to race for Mercedes ahead of the 2022 season
Untelevised team radio footage from the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia has uncovered the moment Toto Wolff apologised to George Russell following his retirement at Sepang.
It comes after it emerged on Tuesday that Russell will serve an engine penalty at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix after suffering his latest technical problem.
Toto Wolff to George Russell: ‘Sorry for that f**k up’
Russell was on course to finish third in Malaysia last weekend when his Mercedes W17 came to a halt behind the safety car.
Although Russell was officially classified 16th as he completed 90 per cent of the race distance, it effectively marked his third DNF of the season following his previous retirements in Canada and Belgium.
Russell now trails Mercedes teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 84 points with a maximum of seven races remaining in the F1 2026 season.
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As reported by PlanetF1.com, Russell was heard reporting a problem with his Mercedes engine moments before he stopped in Malaysia.
Russell said: “Check PU. Something feels weird. PU hot. I think PU’s broken.”
His race engineer, Marcus Dudley, instructed Russell to move into clean air in the queue behind the safety car before asking him to stop the car moments later.
A new piece of team radio footage has now revealed that Wolff, the long-serving Mercedes team boss and co-owner, apologised to Russell in the aftermath of his stoppage.
Wolff was heard saying: “George, sorry for that f**k up. Sorry.”
Wolff’s team radio comment comes after he admitted that Mercedes had “let him down” in a statement released by the team after the race.
He said on Sunday in Malaysia: “This has been our worst weekend of the season.
“It hurts, and I feel incredibly sorry for George and everyone in the team.
“George drove an outstanding race and was on course for a very strong result, but we let him down.
“The reality is that has happened too often this year, and that is not acceptable.”
Mercedes confirmed to PlanetF1.com on Tuesday that Russell will serve an engine penalty in Singapore this weekend in a further blow to his fading title hopes.
Russell will likely take another extra engine penalty before the end of F1 2026 when Mercedes installs an engine upgrade under the ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) scheme.
Bradley Lord, the deputy team principal of Mercedes, conceded that Russell’s stoppage in Malaysia could bring a “double whammy” penalty.
Russell confirmed at last month’s Italian Grand Prix that Mercedes had delayed his penalty in order for it to coincide with the team’s engine upgrade.
This would have allowed Russell to serve a single penalty, with each new upgrade counting as an extra addition to a driver’s engine component pool.
Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets on Sunday at Sepang, however, Lord admitted that the team would be forced to reassess its plans.
Lord said: “He came on the radio behind the safety car, said PU was starting to sound funny.
“We saw sensors then misbehaving, and it was clear we had to pull the car over, and we’d had a failure of some sort.
“Still need to understand what it means for his pool because he’s not rich in low-mileage power units either, so that may mean we need to alter what had been our previous plan.
“But we’ll understand that in more detail in the next hours.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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