F1 News: George Russell Explains Crash With Lewis Hamilton During Spanish GP Qualifying
George Russell has reflected on the collision with Lewis Hamilton during the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying session today.
The Mercedes pair have been summoned to the stewards in about forty minutes over the collision. However, before the meeting, Russell has spoken about the collision from his side. He said to Sky Sports during a post-qualifying interview:
“I wasn’t even aware he was there. I was starting my lap, trying to take the slipstream from Sainz… Fortunately, nothing bad happened.”
Russell was moving out of the slipstream of Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari ahead of him and did not realise that Hamilton was in the space. The seven-time champion suffered from damage to his W14, losing the end plate of his front wing. Russell was out of the session in Q2, however, Hamilton's car needed to be repaired quickly before Q3.
Hamilton will be starting from P5 on the grid tomorrow with Russell starting back in P12.
It is not clear as to whether either party will be given a penalty which would change the grid line-up, but more should be clarified after the meeting with the stewards later today. Another driver potentially facing a penalty is Pierre Gasly who has also been summoned to the stewards for impeding Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen's flying laps.
Hamilton has also spoken about the collision, stating that it was just a miscommunication. He did explain that the car was pulling to the right after the collision but is still feeling optimistic for the race tomorrow. He explained to Sky Sports in his post-qualifying interview:
“The car was pulling to the right [after the collision with George].”