Former Williams team manager Peter Windsor has claimed that George Russell did "absolutely the worst thing a racing driver can ever do" following his collision with Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.
A double podium for Mercedes in Barcelona saw them achieve their best result of the season. But just 24 hours before the race started, things could have been very different.
In the dying moments of Q2, Russell was pushing hard to get out of the bottom five and into Q3. As he approached the line to start a lap, team-mate Hamilton was rapidly gaining ground in his slipstream.
Russell was seemingly unaware of Hamilton racing up behind him, as the pair collided, narrowly avoiding what could have been a very serious incident.
An apology was shortly issued from Russell to Hamilton and the team-mates moved forward from the incident to secure a season-best result for Mercedes.
But Windsor is "staggered" that the man from King's Lynn managed to avoid further punishment.
'You shouldn't be in a Formula 1 car'
{inlineimage[https://sportsbase.io/images/gpfans/copy_620x348/c092479b29154eeeb37f7d9e37d622c8356597d3.jpg][George Russell narrowly avoided what could have been a nasty crash with team-mate Lewis Hamilton during qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix ][2]}
'You shouldn't be in a Formula 1 car'
George Russell narrowly avoided what could have been a nasty crash with team-mate Lewis Hamilton during qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix
“It was absolutely the worst thing a racing driver can ever do,” he told his YouTube channel.
“To pull out on the straight, when somebody else is going much quicker than you and about to pass you and hit them…I mean that’s how we lost Gilles Villeneuve.
“Ok, Jochen Mass was dawdling and didn’t know which way he was going to go but, in principle, it’s the same thing. Very, very lucky that there wasn’t a massive shunt there.”
“I’m absolutely staggered that George didn’t get a much, much stiffer penalty. I just think somebody needs to be doing something about that. It’s inexcusable.
“Why wasn’t he penalised more? And I think that’s possibly to do with the fact he has got quite a senior position with the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers' Association) and he is very well thought of.
All smiles: Verstappen, Hamilton and Russell celebrate on the podium after the Spanish Grand Prix
“I think that’s probably why George does get away with it because he’s got this senior position now and they think, ‘well, you know, he wouldn’t do it intentionally’.
“And that’s not the point. Nobody does it intentionally. If you do, you shouldn’t be in a Formula 1 car in the first place.
“It was obviously a misunderstanding. But they [the stewards] seem to say ‘oh, well, because Mercedes and it was split between the two Mercedes drivers because it was a miscommunication. It was unfortunate, but we’ll try and make sure it doesn’t happen again, slap on the wrist, completely wrong.’
“It’s actually even worse that it was his team-mate because in reality, he should have been looking in the mirrors even more.”
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