After the Dutch Grand Prix, George Russell was accused on social networks of selfishness, for having made the decision to stop during the last safety car in order to put on soft rubber.
Lewis Hamilton could not stop, and some internet users thought that Russell had decided to change his tires – and it was he who offered this to Mercedes F1 from the cockpit – to the detriment of his teammate. He now refuses this idea.
“Personally, I thought we were both going to pit” remembers the Briton. « I arrived just behind Nicholas [Latifi]and I told him to hurry up because I was afraid of being overtaken by [Charles] Leclerc who was a little further behind. »
« But then I had a little gap with Lewis, so I was a little surprised he didn’t pit. But I knew after that there just wasn’t enough time for that. everything was ready, and that was why he didn’t stop. »
“Think” before sending a hate message
Russell has seen many aggressive responses to a Mercedes F1 twitter post, and laments that. He also confirms that Mercedes is working with a specialist company to automatically moderate its Twitter posts.
« It’s really awful to see this continue week after week, based on the latest news. There’s too much, and I don’t think there’s anything we can do as an organization. »
« You have to go beyond that, to the people running the social media channels, the governments. There’s so much going around, and we’re doing everything we can to get those accounts reported. »
« As a team, we’re working with an organization to try to limit this, and that’s what we’re doing. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t stop the person behind a computer from sending this tweet or this post, or whatever. »
« The message to get across is: If you’re going to post something, think twice. Are you going to add something positive or negative? If it’s in a negative way, don’t. C It’s a shame to see this. »
