The Mercedes team had a nightmare at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Both cars suffered misfortunes and Mercedes junior George Russell was involved in one of them. First and foremost, Lewis Hamilton slipped off the track in his best impression of Sebastian Vettel Hockenheim in 2018. Fortunately, he was able to break free and recover to finish second.
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However, Valtteri Bottas and George Russell weren’t so lucky. The Brit tried to overtake his rival with DRS support in the pits, but everything went wrong. Russell dropped a bike on the damp grass, lost control, and wiped out his one-time Mercedes teammate. Aside from the shunt, the youngster still had a very strong race.
Formula 1 F1 – Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy – April 16, 2021 Williams’ George Russell in action during practice REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini
Former F1 driver Martin Brundle said: “I’m surprised that this doesn’t happen more often. The track had a defined dry line with moisture on both sides, and turn one is just a left bend. Bottas wanted to stay on the dry line, that’s entirely his prerogative, as long as he leaves space on both sides, which he has done. “
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“I can’t see any guilt for Bottas, and Russell needs to carefully consider whether he should have seen the danger unfold, withdrawn and waited for a less risky move, and how he behaved with his words and actions after the shunt Has.”
“He’s a young, lively racing driver who takes a temporary opportunity and you absolutely don’t want to miss that, but especially against a factory Mercedes he had to look at the bigger picture and play the percentage game more carefully.”
What was George Russell and Valtteri Bottas thinking about?
Obviously, both drivers were fighting for position and Russell really wanted to overtake the Finn. The Brit had track position, slipstream and closing speed to attack Bottas, and the latter was within his defense rights. Russell had his DRS open, he went around a bend and drifted onto a damp part of the track.
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All of these factors combined came up with a recipe for disaster, and poor old Bottas just happened to get in the way. To make matters worse, Haas F1 driver Nikita Mazepin had already defeated Nicholas Latifi in the other Williams.
Brundle admitted the collision was just a racing event, and the stewards agreed with him. The former McLaren driver insisted that Valtteri Bottas was not to blame. In addition, Russell should have considered the risk involved and stepped back. From there he could have waited his time and taken a less risky move
Russell, however, was doing himself a disservice about his own behavior. Of course he’s a hot-blooded young racing driver and he took an opportunity and it would be stupid to silence that. On the other side of the argument, Russell needs to see the bigger picture as Mercedes could be his future employers. In other words, team boss Toto Wolff has the last word in his and Botta’s careers.
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