Toto Wolff reveals cause of George Russell’s heartbreaking F1 Canadian GP failure

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff has revealed what caused George Russell’s costly retirement from the Canadian Grand Prix.

Russell had been trading places with Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli in a nail-biting battle for the lead before the fight came to an abrupt end when the Briton peeled off at the Turn 8/9 chicane on lap 30.

Russell’s Mercedes appeared to completely shut down with a power unit-related issue, which was confirmed by team principal Wolff after the race.

“It looks like a battery failure. The car was literally going dark, there was no electricity in the car anymore,” Wolff explained to Sky Sports F1.

Russell said he was “lost for words” after the retirement, which has seen him fall 43 points behind Antonelli after the Italian teenager clinched his fourth consecutive victory of the season in Montreal. 

"Everything just turned off all of a sudden," he explained to Sky Sports F1. "Just went into the corner, engine stopped, no electronics, no proper braking. I'm a bit lost for words to be honest right now.

"I've got to be honest, I'm proud of my weekend. Pole in the sprint, won the sprint, pole in qualifying. I was leading when I stopped, I had good [fun] battling with Kimi.

“From my side I don't feel like there was anything more I could have done this weekend. So, I'll leave satisfied. Of course, I'm pretty damn frustrated with what's happened. But yeah, what more can I do?"

Mercedes ‘half enjoyed’ intense driver duel

Mercedes warned its drivers to tidy up their racing after several near-misses as they squabbled over first place, and even threatened to call the fight off altogether at one stage.

"As a team we have had so many situations where it is bittersweet. You are extremely happy for one driver but feel gutted for the other one. It’s difficult,” Wolff added.

"Kimi has done a splendid job today and deserved the win. It was a shame for George as he was leading.

"We half enjoyed watching how they fought it out and we wished we would have had a one and a two.”

When asked how close the team was to telling Russell and Antonelli to stand down, Wolff replied: “Every time we thought about saying, 'we have had enough for the moment', the next two laps were fast again.

"As long as we maintained that gap, it was okay watching it, but it can obviously go wrong.

“They were giving each other room, which was great. We never changed the engine strategies. The one defending had the tools he needed, the one attacking had the tools he needed. There was no difference between the two.

“It was a luxury problem and hopefully we go like this for much longer in the season but you can’t discount the others.

“If it was closer behind us, if we were losing positions, we would definitely jump in and say ‘let’s not lose so much time with each other’.”