George Russell’s Australian GP ended heartbreakingly as he crashed out of the race in the last lap. Pushing hard against Fernando Alonso for a P6 finish, the Briton lost control and crashed as he hit the wall and came to a stop on the middle of the track, with the car rested on its side. Scarier than the crash was his reaction on the team radio, as Russell was worried about other cars colliding into him at top speed.
Russell desperately called for the red flag, as seen in a terrifying video uploaded on X by user Meredith. He continuously called for the red flag, saying on the radio that he was in the middle of the track. However, that never came. Instead, the race ended under a Virtual Safety Car, leading to many people questioning the decision.
George Russell came out of the car unharmed but far from happy with the events that unfolded. Right from Alonso’s aggressive braking, to the stewards’ decision not to bring out the red flag. X user Deni quoted Russell’s post-race comments as he claimed he would be taking the matter to the stewards. The Mercedes driver insisted that the circumstances were bizarre, and he will have more to say once he has a chat with the stewards.
“I’ve gone off and that’s on me. But, I was half a second behind Fernando and suddenly he came towards me extremely quick, I don’t know if he’s got a problem or not, we’re off to the stewards. Bizarre circumstances. I’ve got nothing more to say right now.”
Both of Mercedes‘ car DNFed in Melbourne, capping up a horror weekend for the team. An engine failure led to Lewis Hamilton becoming the first Mercedes driver to fall out of a race this season. As the race went on, all of Mercedes’ hopes lay with Russell. While things looked decent throughout the race, Russell’s push to maximize Mercedes’ points haul backfired big time.
Fans react to George Russell desperately calling for a Red Flag
Upon seeing the onboard footage from Russell’s car, fans couldn’t help but wonder about what went through the 26-year-old’s mind at that time of the crash. They took to X to express their shock over the incident as some claimed George Russell was “begging for his life” on the radio.
Some fans pointed out how dangerous the sport of F1 can be, even with modern day safety and regulations.
Many fans believe that the stewards did not bring out the red flag to avoid an undesirable ending to the race . With only a lap to go, certain theories suggest that the decision to end the race under a VSC was down to the stewards not wanting to extend the race any further. Given the same, they are now attracting a lot of flak, with questions being raised about the credibility of this decision, which could have ended horribly for George Russell.
