F1 analyst slams Mercedes for the Lewis Hamilton-George Russell crash that was ‘avoidable’
The crash at the Qatar GP cost Mercedes major points in the constructor’s championship.
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Lewis Hamilton and George Russell (Via IMAGO)
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were involved in an unfortunate collision in the first lap of the Qatar GP. The crash occurred at turn one when Hamilton was trying to take the outside lane to overtake the two racers ahead of him, Max Verstappen and Russell. This led to Lewis Hamilton being DNF’ed from the race and Russell dropping down to 18th position in seconds.
George Russell initially said that he had nowhere to go and that he was ‘sandwiched’ between the two racers. But later, he apologized to the team and Hamilton, claiming he was too focused on looking forward and didn’t notice his teammate. Ted Kravitz, Sky Sports reporter and F1 analyst, was quick to comment on this incident at the venue.
Kravitz said post-race, as reported by crash.net, “The frustrating thing is, as well as being completely unnecessary—had they given each other a bit of room, it wouldn’t have happened.” He also claimed that this incident was ‘frustrating’ because the car had pace; “the car had pace, they would have been quicker than McLaren.”
Kravitz also claims that they [Mercedes] could have had a double podium instead of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris [two McLaren racers]. He said, “It would have been a double podium; it wouldn’t have been Lando and Oscar; it would’ve been George and Lewis on the podium.”
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Ted Kravitz asks the ‘obvious’ questions to the Mercedes crew
He asked the crew of Mercedes if they had even discussed the strategies and possibilities before going into the race. “They talked about it in the Mercedes briefing in the morning. How avoidable was all of this? I want to know.”
He called out Bradley Lord, who replaced Toto Wolff for the weekend, and said that if they really ‘discussed it’ before the race, it’s not Russell’s fault if he thought about Hamilton overtaking him after a few laps. He even questioned if Hamilton thought about him having a faster strategy so that he would play it safer and take a broader turn into turn one.
Russell had a great comeback after the first-lap setback; he finished in fourth place behind fellow British racer Lando Norris. Kravitz declared that due to Hamilton’s fault, the team potentially ‘threw away’ an opportunity for a double podium that would fetch them good points to further hold onto their position in the constructor’s championship.
In case you missed it:
- Christian Horner admits that Red Bull desperately needs Sergio Perez back to his best
- George Russell appreciates Lewis Hamilton’s ‘public’ apology over Qatar GP crash
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Justin P Joy
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