“What the f**k was he doing?” – WATCH Valtteri Bottas and George Russell “plane crash” in Imola, leading to a furious exchange between the two Sakhir 2020 ‘teammates’.
It seemed like an audition to Toto Wolff but ended up with both in the gravel.
George Russell in his Williams collided with Valterri Bottas in his Mercedes battling for track position on the first chicane. At face value, it does seem the former’s fault, which compelled the Race Control to red flag the incident-filled brilliant race, ultimately won by Max Verstappen.
Ride onboard with George Russell as he and Valtteri Bottas collide in a scary high speed accident 💥
Racing incident? 💬⬇️#SkyF1 | #F1 | #ImolaGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/Af3Pn2Txkr
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) April 18, 2021
As debris flew across the track and Russell came out, tension was building up. What followed next was Russell moving towards the Merc and ‘patting’ Bottas on the helmet. Bottas was visibly unimpressed, showing the middle finger to his potential teammate next season.
the way netflix is going to squeeze tf out of this to portray the rivalry between george and bottas pic.twitter.com/PdvL2t8l40
— andy (@iiiuminateandy) April 18, 2021
Reactions to the “plane crash” between Russell and Bottas
As the drivers steered safely to the pit lane, race leader Verstappen was given an explanation of the incident, termed as a “plane crash”.
What Valtteri Bottas saw after the collision #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/GYgj3cC5n2
— Muhummad Moosa (@MoosaMuhummad) April 18, 2021
Lewis Hamilton was visibly distraught, less at that incident and more at him losing control of his Merc and ending up in P9. For a brief moment, it seemed Toto Wolff will only have Esteban Ocon to watch for the rest of the race, until Hamilton recovered magnificently to finish on the podium alongside the Driver of the Day Lando Norris.
Russell took no blame on himself, meanwhile, saying this on team radio: “What the f**k was he doing?”. The stewards are having none of it though, with the incident set to be investigated.
Also read “Let’s race”– Lewis Hamilton foresees the future; went to vie with Lando Norris for P2