After George Russell ruined Carlos Sainz’s race in COTA, Sebastian Vettel took a dig at the Mercedes driver.
George Russell seems to have made a name amongst the F1 grid. The Briton has finished in top-5 in 16 of the 19 races so far.
Russell who is serving his rookie year with Mercedes is far ahead of his 7-time World Champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton. But it seems like, that is not how Sebastian Vettel recognises the Briton now!
After the Briton ended Carlos Sainz’s race in COTA, Russell’s made a reputation for his erratic driving and causing damage. So when Vettel was trailing the Briton during the Free Practice session of the Mexico City GP, the German enjoyed a bit of banter.
The 4-time World Champion emerged out of the pits three seconds behind Russell. He radioed his engineer, “We’ve got Mr ‘I Never Move On Out Laps’ in front of us,” referring to Russell.
Vettel: “We’ve got Mr I Never Move On Out Laps in front of us.”
Cronin: “Yeah exactly, let’s see if he changes.”He came out of the pits three seconds behind @GeorgeRussell63. #F1 #MexicanGP #MexicoGP #RaceFans
— RaceFans Live (@racefanslive) October 28, 2022
His engineer Chris Cronin replied, “Yeah exactly. Let’s see if he changes.” And fortunately, Russell did not!
Also Read: Sebastian Vettel recounts a funny incident when a policeman failed to recognize him as an F1 driver
How George Russell ended Carlos Sainz’s race in COTA
George Russell ended Carlos Sainz’s race too early in 2022 United States. Sainz had qualified for pole position but only lasted until the first corner of COTA on Sunday.
The Spaniard was hit by Russell who barged into his Ferrari. Sainz was forced to retire after the collision damaged his car’s racing capabilities.
Russell was handed a five-second penalty, but due to the multiple safety car incidents, the Briton’s race was not affected. He finished the race P5 and overtook Sainz in the Drivers championship by claiming 4th place.
The start from Carlos Sainz’ perspective…
We have no words…he was a passenger and hit from behind by George Russell
Absolutely heartbroken 💔 pic.twitter.com/gdowK4e4ar
— Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) October 23, 2022
Russell apologised to Sainz after the race, by visiting the Ferrari motorhome. Carlos accepted his fate but was visibly unhappy with his premature ending and inconsistent ruling by the Stewards.
Also Read: Watch: Mercedes’ mechanic breaks $300,000 part of George Russell’s W13
Carlos Sainz says FIA was linient on George Russell
Carlos Sainz says it was nice of George Russell to apologise for his mistakes as soon as the race ended. But the Spaniard claims it doesn’t make him happy.
Sainz also stated the 5-second penalty Russell received was not enough. Sainz claimed, “I think that the FIA also was maybe a bit easy on him for the consequences that happened.” Sainz said such crashes are common in the midfield but for a top-tier driver to do such an error is unacceptable.
carlos sainz post-race interview:
“so many races that i don’t even complete one lap. […] the speed is there it’s just a very poor year in terms of luck.” 🙁 pic.twitter.com/EmFB3b5qUh
— ً (@forsainz) October 23, 2022
It was a painful evening for Sainz. He lost the chance to end his race spectacularly after a pole. And now trails Russell in the fight for 4th position in the Driver’s championship.
He added, “It was, for sure, one of the toughest moments of the season. and was very disappointing, because after doing a perfect weekend up until then, for your race to be ruined by something out of your control is really tough.”
Also Read: “FIA is too kind to George Russell” – Carlos Sainz remains frustrated with his DNF at USGP
