George Russell takes responsibility for Singapore F1 crash: ‘A really tough day due to my own error’
Mercedes F1 driver George Russell acknowledged that his own error caused him to crash out of the Singapore Grand Prix sprint event – a mishap that could have affected his qualifying performance.
Starting from the front row, Russell quickly took the lead on a slick Marina Bay circuit, executing a much better start than polesitter Max Verstappen, but he lost control after slightly going wide at the exit of the final corner. The British driver spun into the inside wall and had to retire from the race.
Demonstrated by his second-place position on the grid, Russell had shown impressive speed during sprint qualifying, but he could only manage a sixth-place finish in the main qualifying session, which he attributes to his team needing to quickly repair his Silver Arrow.
“Clearly a very tough day overall, and it all stemmed from my own error,” Russell remarked.
“The car didn’t feel quite right. I was having trouble with the rear end, and then I was overheating the tires, which led to a bit of a downward trend. Yesterday everything just clicked and worked well, so we need to investigate why that wasn’t the case today.”
George Russell, Mercedes
“This isn’t really surprising when the entire team is trying to put everything back together so quickly after it’s been in the wall. Yesterday we were competitive on every lap, and today that wasn’t the case.”
This theory is something Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff supports, although the team still needs to investigate further.
“With George, the car was only completed at the very last moment,” Wolff told Sky Germany. “The floor is likely not in perfect condition. Overall, it was a decent performance.”
When asked what his goals were for the race, Russell was uncertain, as a power unit penalty from his Sepang engine failure pushed him to the back of the grid.
The 28-year-old recognizes that while Kimi Antonelli won from 19th at the Italian Grand Prix, it took him 17 laps to move from 16th back into the top 10 in Azerbaijan; admittedly, the young driver was ‘driving like his grandmother’ through the streets of Baku.
So what does Russell consider a realistic outcome for the main race in Singapore, Motorsport.com inquired? Given that Mercedes is facing stiff competition from Red Bull and Ferrari this weekend, the Englishman is simply aiming for points. “It’s going to be quite challenging,” he noted.
“Kimi had one race starting from 19th and won, and another from 16th where he only managed to reach P10 with 10 laps to go or something like that. Same driver, same car, but very different results. So to answer your question, I genuinely don’t know.”
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