George Russell nearly missed the Azerbaijan Grand Prix due to illness. Image: XPB Images
Russell skipped Thursday’s media day and was excused from Friday’s drivers’ briefing as he struggled with his condition.
Post-race, the Mercedes team principal admitted the situation was “touch and go” in the early hours of Friday morning.
“He was properly poorly,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
“On Friday, it was touch and go in the morning. He himself said ‘I’m not sure I can make it’ and then somehow you recover.
“But then, overnight, it got worse again every single day. I think it was a big push from him to even drive and then to perform like this is mega.”
Despite the uncertainty, Russell lined up fifth on the grid and executed a controlled, strategic race to climb to second behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
By extending his opening stint and executing a precise overcut on Williams’ Carlos Sainz, he secured Mercedes’ first podium since Hungary and his seventh of the season.
“The last couple of days have been pretty rough,” Russell said.
“Fortunately last night was my first semi-decent night and feeling on my way back up. I felt good on the hard (compound tyre), I was pushing.
“I felt confident and really attacked the pit entry, think I gained a lot of lap time there on the pit entry and that made the difference, so really happy with the result.”
Russell admitted the physically draining weekend has left him looking forward to a rest, but he emphasised the significance of the result for both him and Mercedes.
“I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag, to be honest,” he added.
“I’m just happy with the results. For us as a team, trying to beat Ferrari in the Constructors’, this was a good step towards that.”
Teammate Kimi Antonelli also impressed, finishing fourth and registering his strongest result since the Canadian Grand Prix, with the combined effort helping Mercedes leapfrog Ferrari into second in the constructors’ championship.
Formula 1 returns on October 3-5 for the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.