George Russell shows true colours with reaction to Max Verstappen clash in Vegas
George Russell took full responsibility for colliding with Max Verstappen which hampered his race at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Russell started the race third and well placed for what would have been only a second podium of the year. But he suffered on what proved to be a difficult day for the British drivers.
Lando Norris crashed out early and was taken to hospital for checks, while Lewis Hamilton dropped several places at the start and had to fight from the back. To make matters worse, the seven-time world champion then picked up a puncture which dropped him even further back.
In the end, though, Hamilton finished seventh, marginally ahead of Russell. The younger Mercedes driver was ahead on track but was relegated below his team-mate by a five-second time penalty.
He picked that up after turning into Verstappen as the Dutchman tried to overtake. The clash did light damage to both cars, but not enough to stop the Red Bull racer from going on to take victory.
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But that didn't stop Russell from being punished with that time penalty which led to him losing points at the end. Despite the disappointment, he held his hands up in his post-race interview and admitted he deserved to be punished for the mistake.
"Another massively missed opportunity this weekend," he lamented. "The incident with Max was totally my fault. I didn't see him. Totally in my blind spot going around Turn 11. I was expecting the overtake there. You've got the long DRS afterwards. We were on course for an easy podium after. It was pretty straightforward. Recovered to P4, the five seconds knocks us down to P8. This season is one thing after another!
"It was just on the wheel cover. If anything, it would have helped my graining because it would have given me extra cooling. I think we had a few cuts in that tyre so we did the wise thing and changed that set of tyres. We recovered P4. Even without the penalty I would have been disappointed. We should have been on that podium. It would have been a nice way to end the season after such a disastrous one. This tops it off."
Russell has podiumed just once this year despite showing plenty of his quality. But too make mistakes combined with plenty of misfortune have limited what the Brit has been able to achieve in his sophomore year with Mercedes, though he still has a job to do in the final round to help his team beat Ferrari to second place.
He added: "Pace was strong but not as strong as the Red Bulls and the Ferraris. I think, when you have a fast car, luck is always on your side. When you're on the back foot, luck is never on your side. Ultimately, we just need to keep on pushing, go into next week and see what we can do."
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