Ted Kravitz Claims George Russell ‘Negated’ Lewis Hamilton’s Delicate Race Plan by Fighting Him for Position Before Leading to Collision

A promising Qatar GP soon turned into a nightmare for Lewis Hamilton as he crashed out of the race on the first corner of Lap 1 after colliding with George Russell. Having become a major point of discussion in all the panels following the race, Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz weighed in with his opinion on the same. While the 49-year-old believes Hamilton was the guilty party behind the incident, he blamed Russell for not following Mercedes’ action plan for the race.

As the feature race began, Hamilton had the best start of any driver, and driving on the softs, he had an added advantage over the others around him. As such, the 7-time world champion had a brief window where he could potentially have overtaken Max Verstappen and then deploy defensive tactics. However, Russell’s apparent resistance made things tricky for Hamilton, who ended up colliding with his teammate and subsequently out of the race.

George Russell might have been the main culprit behind Hamilton crashing out in Qatar

The Mercedes cars enjoyed a decent pace in Qatar as the team hoped for a massive result following Sainz’s withdrawal from the race. However, it all went horribly wrong when Hamilton was out of the race on Turn 1 of Lap 1 of the race. Addressing the same during Sky Sports’ F1 Podcast, Kravitz blamed Russell for not being a team player despite it being clear that Mercedes wanted Hamilton to have the better start as they sent him out on soft tires while Russell went out on mediums.

“But then George [Russell] fighting him negated all of that.”

“I don’t understand why it would not have been the Mercedes strategy to say, ‘Okay guys, this is what we’re gonna do. Lewis [Hamilton] is on the soft. He is going to come around you, George. You are not going to fight him. He is gonna try and get Max [Verstappen].”

The collision between Hamilton and Russell was reminiscent of the intra-team battle between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg back in 2016. Even then, the team suffered greatly after the two drivers collided with one another on two separate occasions. The first lap of the 2016 Spanish GP saw both drivers crash out of the race after colliding with each other. While during the Austrian GP, Hamilton and Rosberg came together once again, with the latter suffering from front wing damage that denied him a podium finish.

Nightmare for Hamilton but a blessing for Sergio Perez

With Hamilton crashing out of the race, it was a blessing in disguise for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who is under pressure to save his P2 seat in the driver’s standings. As the Briton started ahead of Perez, there were good chances of him closing the gap even more between P3 and P2, but it did not happen. Meanwhile, the Silver Arrows also failed to capitalize on there being only one Ferrari car on the starting grid.

 

A disconsolate Lewis Hamilton walks back to the pits as team mate George Russell circulates behind after their Turn 1 collision #F1 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/YvqxadsOqt

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 9, 2023

With Hamilton crashing out, the only saving grace came in the form of Russell finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc, which meant Ferrari was unable to cut down on the gap between them and Mercedes. However, with five races left to go in the season, the dramatic incident during the Qatar GP has set the tone for an even more exciting end-of-the-season battle for P2 in the driver’s as well as the constructor’s championship.