Spanish GP: George Russell has had his fair share of bad luck in his tenure as a Mercedes driver so far. The relentless, strong-headed Brit joined the Silver Arrows in 2022, right after their dominating stint in the turbo hybrid era. To his disappointment, the journey ever since has been mostly downhill for the Brackley-based team. Recently, after back-to-back planned upgrades, the grid dynamic has started to shift again in favor of the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell.
In the last two races, the team has redeemed its reputation a fair bit. Especially the Spanish GP weekend, with a P2-P3 finish, was the highlight of the season for the team. The weekend, however, was not the one without fault for the Silver Arrows. George Russell opened the can of worms with an incident in Q2 with teammate Lewis Hamilton which reminded many of the 2016 Spanish GP scares.
During the Q2 session on Saturday in Barcelona, the two Mercedes made contact on the straight ahead of Turn 13 when Lewis Hamilton picked up the pace trying to pass his teammate. At that moment, Russell being unaware of the same moved towards the left and Hamilton ran into him, damaging the front win of his W-14. Initially, Hamilton thought that fellow Brit is helping him with the tow. However, contrary to that Russell was going about his business as usual and didn’t see him approaching.
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F1 Journalist demands stricter penalty for George Russell
After the qualifying session ended, the two drivers clarified the whole miscommunication from the team’s end. The next day, the duo went out and got a double podium finish for the team as well. As of now, the British duo in Silver Arrows seems to share a healthy and cordial relationship, which helps in resolving matters like these amicably.
However, following the same, F1 journalist and insider Peter Windsor treated Russell with some really harsh words. As per him, a mere reprimand for the incident is a lighter punishment and the gravity of this situation demanded something much stricter.
Speaking on his live stream, Windsor said, “I noticed that you haven’t mentioned nearly causing a massive accident on the straight in Q2 in Spain with his teammate Lewis Hamilton, which to me, was absolutely the worst thing a racing driver can ever do. To pull out on the straight when somebody else behind you is going much quicker and about to pass you and hit them, that’s how we lost Gilles Villeneuve.”
“It’s the same principle. we are very very lucky that there wasn’t a massive shunt there. I’m absolutely staggered George did not get a much stiffer penalty for that,” added Windsor.
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