George Russell, Williams Formula 1 driver, reflected on his instinctive behavior as a “very poor judgment”. He collided with Mercedes’ driver Valtteri Bottas at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari track.
Russell remonstrated directly, climbing from his ruined FW43B, toward Bottas. The Finn was still in car coping with the incident when he was confronted by the former driver.
Both cars become wrecked and the drivers had to leave the race while fighting for ninth position in Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Williams’ car was pulled in on Mercedes when it hit a damp patch of the track. The crash was called in as a racing incident and both drivers were let free off any penalty by the stewards.
Russell exploded in the pre-event press conference for Portuguese GP at Portimao. He was disappointed at what had happened and blamed Bottas for the incident. A day later, he apologized and issued a statement to the media.
Mercedes junior Russell said: “Having had a week, even just an evening [immediately after the race], to let the emotions calm down and reflect on everything, I think the incident is one thing – it’s part of racing and these things do happen.
“I think the actions I did afterwards were not my true self.
“I sort of went against my instincts to walk away and almost show a bit of emotion, which was probably a very poor judgement call in the heat of the moment.
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“[And that] led on to a few more things later that afternoon. That’s why I felt like it was necessary for me to put [the statement] out on Monday morning to apologise for my actions.
“Because I do want to lead by example and I do want to be a role model and those actions after the incident were not ‘leading by example’.”
Russell was asked if he and Mercedes’ boss Toto Wolff had spoken on the matter. He answered, : “Yeah, of course – Toto and I have spoken extensively since the incident.
“The contents of that will remain private, but he’s been very supportive, very constructive.
“Our relationship has not been damaged at all following the incident – if anything, quite the opposite. And likewise with everyone at Williams.”
Russell was happy with the Williams making points on merit.
“[Williams has] been incredibly supportive,” Russell said.
“They want me to attack, go for opportunities and we’re proud to have been in that position.
“We were in 10th position fighting for points on merit. We’d been there at points last year, but through fortunate opportunities – of other cars retiring.
“But we were truly there on merit, going for an overtake.”
