Lewis Hamilton has explained how a miscommunication resulted in his nerve-wracking incident with Mercedes teammate George Russell during the second part of qualifying that almost ended the session of both drivers. While Hamilton made it to Q3 despite this incident, Russell failed to do so as he only managed to qualify 12th.
Speaking of his incident with Russell, Hamilton said (as quoted by Deni), “The car didn’t feel massively different. Afterward, the car was pulled to the right. Obviously, I put a wheel on the grass, but it was just a miscommunication thing. Generally, on the lap, it was feeling okay“.
#SpanishGP 🇪🇸: Lewis Hamilton on the incident with Russell: “The car didn’t feel massively different, afterwards the car was pulling to the right… Obviously I put a wheel on the grass, but it was just a miscommunication thing. Generally on the lap it was feeling okay.”
— deni (@fiagirly) June 3, 2023
What happened between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell?
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell made contact on the start-finish straight as they were gearing up for their final runs in the second part of qualifying. With Russell seemingly not going quickly, Hamilton attempted to get past his Mercedes teammate.
However, as Hamilton approached Russell, the 25-year-old moved across and collided with his teammate. While the contact did not have any serious consequences, things could have been far worse for the two. Unsurprisingly, Hamilton was left furious immediately after this incident took place.
he will pay for his sin pic.twitter.com/H4SAvQiv2b
— ً (@tsimiks) June 3, 2023
While speaking on the team radio, he said that Russell just “backed off“. The 38-year-old labeled his teammate’s driving as “really dangerous” and stated that he might have some damage to his car. It was later revealed that Hamilton did suffer damage, which would cost the team a whopping $140,000.
Russell blames Mercedes for making contact with Hamilton
While George Russell was quick to accept blame for the incident with Lewis Hamilton, he did blame Mercedes for it as well. The 25-year-old told his team on the radio that he was not informed that Hamilton was just behind him.
As for his own qualifying session, Russell expressed disappointment by stating that he had no idea “what the hell went on in the session“. The young Briton stated that he had “massive bouncing on the straights” and that he couldn’t get his tires working.
With Russell only managing to qualify 12th, he will have it all to do in the main race. The 25-year-old will now hope that the new track layout assists in overtaking as he will have a lot of it to do to get back to a good points-scoring finish.
