(Video) George Russell locks up and FUMBLES the start in Monza with major damage on his front wing
George Russell envisioned to win Mercedes' fourth race of the season at Monza but messed up his run to the first corner on lap 1.
George Russell with Toto Wolff and his lockup at turn 1 in Monza (image via IMAGO and screenshot via Canal+)
Mercedes emerged as a contender for wins and poles after winning its first race at the 2024 Austrian GP. However, they had a terrible weekend in Zandvoort and wanted to bounce back from the underwhelming result. On the other hand, George Russell qualified P3 for the Italian GP and was in close proximity to the papaya cars but fumbled his chance by locking up at the first chicane.
George Russell qualified a tenth behind the pole sitter Lando Norris. This urged him to assert that Mercedes was not out of contention for the win and aimed to sneak around the McLaren cars at the first chicane.
However, his bid for the race lead diminished quickly as he locked up in the first chicane and had to take to the escape road, resulting in him losing loads of places.
The Brit had a similar start in comparison to the papaya cars. The McLaren pair coordinated a slipstream run down to turn one which helped them hold position. On the contrary, Russell tried to save his P3 spot by breaking later than his rivals but misjudged his breaking point and was heading straight into the rear of Oscar Piastri‘s car. This led him to take avoiding action and remerge into P7, he also lost his front wing endplate as a consequence.
George Russell blamed Oscar Piastri for the incident
Though Russell’s incident seemed like a misjudgment on the Briton’s behalf, the 26-year-old is known for blaming others for his clashes. Subsequently, this close call at Monza was not an exception as the Mercedes driver blamed Piastri.
Russell alleged that the McLaren moved across in the breaking zone.
Piastri just came across me in the breaking zone.George Russell said over the radio
Russell’s stance could be deemed to be the adrenaline rushing through his veins while racing. However, experts disagreed with the Englishman’s claims and blamed him for being the reason for his subpar start.
Apart from this, Russell had to pit for a change of front wing losing him heaps of time. So, the 26-year-old would have to make a marvelous recovery drive in order to save his race from being a write-off.
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Geetansh Pasricha
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