“Lewis and Valtteri are teammates to me” – Mercedes junior driver George Russell has committed to not battling it out with his senior teammates Hamilton and Bottas.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was not pleased after George Russell crashed into Valtteri Bottas at Imola. The Austrian understands the instinct of a racing driver – being a racing car driver himself – but he felt Russell could have avoided it, especially because he is a Mercedes driver too.
“I guess when a driver doesn’t go for a gap, he isn’t a racing driver. On the other side, maybe it was too aggressive considering that it was a Mercedes and the track was drying up.”
Hamilton hitting a barrier then Bottas/Russell having a huge crash was a nightmare minute for Mercedes at Imola.
But it’s far from the only calamity #F1‘s champion team has experienced during its dominant years – as our new video shows:https://t.co/hVPCT5QFXt
— The Race (@wearetherace) April 24, 2021
George Russell agrees with Toto Wolff
After initially putting all the blame for the crash on Bottas, Russell admitted he was more at fault, and rightly so. And now, speaking to Channel 4 ahead of this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix, he resolved to not indulge his Williams in a track position battle with Mercedes.
“There were a lot of things I have taken away from it. I think firstly as a racing driver one of the rules is that you should never crash with a teammate and for me personally obviously Valtteri is in a different car but I am a Mercedes-backed driver, I am in the position because of Mercedes.
“Lewis and Valtteri are teammates to me of sorts. And I think that is one thing that didn’t go through my mind in the heat of the moment.”
