“I wasn’t aware he was there” - George Russell explains collision with Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton 🐷looked to overtake his teammate on the run to Q1 after Russell was driving slowly out of the final corner.
𒈔The seven-time world champion was forced onto the grass, picking up front wing damage in the process.
“George 🎉jus♊t backed off,” Hamilton said over team radio after the incident. “That’s really dangerous. I might have some damage on the car.”
Russell told Mercedes: “You didn’t tell me there was a car beh🉐ind. I’m sorry guys.”
Speaking to Sky aft🌃er qualifying🌌, Russell put it down to a miscommunication.
"Yeah pretty much [a miscommunication],”♓ he said. “I wasn’t even aware he was there. I was starting my lap, trying to take the slipstream from Sainz and fortunate that nothing bad happened.”
It was ultimately a d൩isastrous day for Russell, who was knocked out in Q2.
Explaining what went wrong in Barcelona, he said: "Everything to be honest. I am not too sure why. Straight 𒁏out of the box in run one, I just had no grip from the tyres, really🦹 struggling.
“The car started to bounce a lot in the high-speed corners so I couldn’t take corners flat-out when I was doing so this morning. A really odd session. Not surprised to be out i𓃲n Q2 because the car was totally off the pace. I didn’t have a good feeling with it. Disappointing for sure.”
Russell wasn’♛t sure overnight setup changes were to blame for his lack of performancไe.
“We did change some 𝔉things but nothing we would have expected to have such a substantial effect,” he added. “Maybe one thin𓂃g I can contribute towards the lack of performance. It was tricky for everyone out there.
“There were cars struggling𒁃 left, right and centre but we shouldn’t be in this position. It’s a bit of a shame.”
With a shar📖p eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our u💖nbiased reporting.
