“Valtteri left George nowhere to go”– Former Mercedes boss defends George Russell

“Valtteri left George nowhere to go”– Ross Brawn defends George Russell in what appeared to be more of Williams drivers’ fault.

George Russell Vs Valtteri Bottas was one of the biggest talking points after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with Russell jibing on Bottas after the race and vice versa.

Even Toto Wolff stepped in to comment on the situation and slightly sided with Bottas on the situation. Now, to the level field, ex-Mercedes leader Ross Brawn says the opposite.

“There will no doubt be an intense post-mortem of the accident,” wrote Brawn on the official F1 website. “The positive thing is that both drivers escaped unhurt and the cars held upon impact to show how far we’ve come regarding the safety standards.

“Imola is quite a narrow track, so there’s not much space,” he added. “When you add wet grass on either side from the rain, it becomes very, very tricky.

“I’m sure both drivers will analyse the incident and learn from it, but it did look like Valtteri drifted across and left George nowhere to go.”

Valtteri Bottas should take an element of responsibility

While Mercedes’ leadership was a bit annoyed with Russell, the Briton on Monday hit back with his reasoning and said that even if Bottas did things under the rules, he still should act responsibly.

“Valtteri did nothing that was outside the rules, but you have to take an element of responsibility and consideration into the fact of the conditions.”

“There are certain things you can do in certain ways when everything’s stable, but when it’s a damp track, there is a kink, and you’re pushing someone towards the grass, onto the damp patches at over 200 miles an hour.”

“There is a high risk of an incident, and that is why I was very disappointed because I just thought that was beyond a lack of respect, really, not towards me, but just a lack of respect towards these cars.

“Could it have been avoided? Yes. Was Valtteri in the wrong? Probably not,” the Briton continued. “Could he have done something slightly more?”

“Maybe. Was I in the wrong? I caused the crash by spinning, but was I wrong to go for that overtake? Absolutely not. You would have been foolish to lift at that position.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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