“Crikey,” George Russell feels the heat from F1 Twitter after beaching his car in the Brazilian GP qualifying
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George Russell
With around 8 minutes left in Q3, George Russell put his car in the gravel. The Briton got his right rear on the white line when going into turn 4 (Descida do Lago), but then the front of his car snapped, and he took a trip over the gravel. While he may have been able to continue, he then attempted to turn himself around the correct way and subsequently beached the car.
This brought out a red flag at 8:10 of the session. At that point in time, it was Kevin Magnussen who was P1, as he got out first and did a tidy lap. As the red flag came out, the rain got heavier and when the session was restarted, as expected, the lap times fell off. So, for the first time in Haas’ history, their car will start on the front row – and it is also Kevin Magnussen’s first pole position.
George Russell, meanwhile, will start in third. The world champion, Max Verstappen will start alongside Magnussen on the front row, and Lando Norris will start P4. Charles Leclerc, who came out with intermediates first, was unable to set a time with his soft tyres due to the timing of the red flag, and he will start P10 as a consequence.
While Haas must be ecstatic with this prospect, other fans are less pleased. As expected, Russell has been bombarded with a fair bit of ridicule on Twitter.
Also Read: “Our main fight is with Ferrari,” George Russell aims for a top 2 finish in the constructors
Fans not pleased with George Russell’s ‘incident’
George Russell had used the word ‘Crikey’ when tailing behind Mick Schumacher in the Singapore Grand Prix, saying on the radio: “Schumacher’s defending like it is the race of his life, crikey!” Ever since this radio message, fans have found it rather hard to let go.
A fan branded him ‘Wreck it Russell’, coming from the 2012 movie Wreck-it Ralph.
A consequence of George Russell’s trip into the gravel is that Haas teammates Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher will start the sprint race from the absolute opposite ends of the grid. While Magnussen is on pole, Schumacher was eliminated in Q1, and qualified dead last. Not a great look, especially as he is basically fighting for his future.
George Russell also received quite a bit of heat.
Despite the mockery that he’ll receive on social media, George Russell is in a great position for the sprint. However, his teammate, Lewis Hamilton is certainly not in a good spot, and he’ll only start in P8. Last year, he had come back from P20 to finish P5 in the sprint. One wonders how far he can go from P8.
Also Read: George Russell feels Las Vegas GP will be ‘quick’ but not very ‘exciting’ for the drivers
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)