George Russell, Mercedes Formula 1 driver, threw he podium at Las Vegas Grand Prix because of his accident with Max Verstappen. He claims that he was unware of the race winner.
On the final lap, Russell took the place lead from Esteban Ocon, Alpine driver. However, despite finishing fourth he stood on eighth place because of five-second penalty.
The race winner, Verstappen, dive deep into turn 12 where both drivers collided into each other.
The Brit claims that he remained unaware of Verstappen which caused damage to both cars. Russell believes the crash took the possibility of him taking a place on podium.
Russell said: “It was pretty straight forward until the incident with Max. Just totally didn’t see him in the blind spot. Wasn’t expecting the overtake.
“I wasn’t even really fighting him because we knew that Max wasn’t our race. We just had to keep the tyres alive.
“It was a comfortable podium just thrown away once again. So, this season is really disappointing. Very frustrating.”
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Verstappen took great damage from his contact because RB19 right hand front wing endplate broke off. However, Russell lost its wheel cover resulting in a safety car period because of the debris.
The British driver reckoned that the lost of wheel cover might have helped him.
He continued: “The only piece of damage was the wheel cover, which if anything, probably would have helped the graining by having that extra bit of cooling.
“So, if it wasn’t for the safety car, we would have continued and would have gone onto the podium. I don’t really know what to say really. Just really frustrated with today.”
The night-time temperature put the drivers in an uncomfortable situations. The Pirellis did not wreak disaster but they turned to “rock” behind the safety car.
He continued: “It was really dangerous under the safety car. The tyres were rock solid and they were sort of colder than you’d experience in the rain really.”
Russell expressed his opinion to whether the race shall start latter in the day or not. He continued: “It makes entertainment, so it depends what we’re chasing.”
