What was Toto Wolff’s “just drive” radio message to George Russell about?

George Russell has explained the meaning of the “just drive” radio message from his Mercedes boss Toto Wolff during Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying.

In a dramatic and controversial conclusion to qualifying, Russell snatched pole position with a last-ditch effort despite passing yellow flags after Max Verstappen heavily crashed his Red Bull at the final corner on his final lap of Q3.

Russell had been lagging behind his rivals, including Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli, prior to taking pole. The pressure was on the Briton in the second part of qualifying after being forced to abort his first Q2 run, having made a mistake at Turn 3.

Before his final Q2 lap, Mercedes team principal Wolff was heard telling his driver to “just drive”. The lack of further context on the TV broadcast left fans and pundits wondering what was behind the message.

When it was suggested to him that Wolff’s comment sounded more like an order than a message of support, a smiling Russell replied: ”It's probably the Austrian accent, to be honest.

 "No, I think knowing that your boss has 100% faith and confidence in you... He's been the one who has been the first to pick me up throughout the season when things haven't been going right and reminded me, you haven't forgotten how to drive and I know the speed you've got.

"And we speak every single day. And those little messages, they kind of throw me to conversations that we have on a personal level between races as such. So maybe for you sort of listening, not knowing the context [it sounded different].

"For me, it means a lot and reminds me of those chats we've had and reminds me that, yeah, I can do it. I've done it my whole career. There's no reason why I can't do it again today.”

Russell did make a reference to Wolff’s radio message earlier in the FIA post-qualifying press conference.

“Like Toto said to me in Q2, “Just enjoy it, just enjoy the drive.” He said the same ahead of Q3: “Just go out and enjoy it.” And I said that to myself, “Just don’t overdrive it, just enjoy it,” because it’s quite a cool thing that we do,” he said.

When asked if he thinks he has been overdriving at times this season, Russell responded: "There's definitely a factor of that, but it's so difficult because if you're on the back foot and you're off the pace by a tenth or two or three to then say, I'm going to try less hard, it doesn't compute.

"When things aren't going your way, you always want to do more and more and more. And when you're in the car to say that I'm going to approach this corner and I'm going to brake five metres earlier than the lap before, that's just not how our brains work. But sometimes that is the faster way."