Verstappen laughs at Russell blunder in F1 cool down room chat with Hamilton

04 June 2023 , 15:26

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Russell made Verstappen laugh after the Spanish GP (Image: Sky Sports)

George Russell made race-winner Max Verstappen laugh as he admitted a blunder he made during the Spanish Grand Prix.

It was a good day for both of them on Sunday. Verstappen coasted to victory while his closest challengers were the two Mercedes drivers – Lewis Hamilton comfortably second ahead of Russell in third place as the Silver Arrows showed good pace with their new upgrades.

So they were all in a jovial mood as they waited in the cool down room for the podium ceremony to take place. It was during their brief conversation that Russell admitted a blunder he made during the race to Verstappen.

While some forecasts had threatened rain for the race, the darker clouds stayed away from the circuit and it remained dry throughout. But at one point Russell was worried that the drops had begun to fall as he reported it over the radio to his engineer.

A few laps later, he realised he might have made a mistake. He said to his Mercedes team: "Is anyone else reporting rain? I think it's sweat from the inside of my helmet." And the response swiftly came: "Sounds like it's just you that's reporting rain. I suspect it might be the sweat."

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Russell brought it up in that brief chat he had with Verstappen in the cool down room. "I thought it was raining at one point but it was sweat under my visor," said the Brit, prompting a bark of laughter from the Dutchman.

Also while they waited for the podium, the top three re-watched the first lap incident involving Hamilton and Lando Norris. The McLaren driver had started third on the grid but had his race ruined by that contact with his fellow Brit, prompting a front wing change after that first lap.

Watching the clip, Russell said: "What happened here?" before he and Verstappen both let out a soft 'ooh' as they saw the damage to Norris' car. The Mercedes driver then turned to Hamilton and said: "You were lucky you didn't get a puncture there."

Verstappen agreed, adding: "Mate, yeah, exactly," with a surprised expression on his face. While Hamilton escaped without any damage, that enforced pit stop ruined Norris' race and he finished only 17th despite being in such a strong position on the grid.

Daniel Moxon