George Russell has hit out at an FIA rule for ending his British Grand Prix early as he confirms Mercedes have launched a protest. Russell said he could not get his car started after jumping out to check on the condition of Zhou Guanyu after the Alfa Romeo rolled.
Russell ran to check how he could get the car going but noticed marshals had already loaded the Mercedes onto a truck when he came back. Russell said the Silver Aorrws had appealed the decision but the FIA were “adamant” he could not restart.
He said: “Firstly I’m glad to see Zhou is ok after an absolutely horrific incident.
“Ultimately we took a risk starting on the hard because I made a mistake in qualifying and we were starting out of position. We thought that risk gave us the best opportunity later in the race, but there was just no grip whatsoever.
“The hardest compound is cold out there and I got swamped by all the cars. Next thing I know I got touched, was in the side of Zhou and that was it.
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However, there was some hope Russell could have continued in the race. Sky Sports host Karun Chandhok reported Mercedes engineers were assessing the damage with hopes they could fix it during the lengthy red-flag period.
However, about half an hour later, Ted Kravitz said Rusell had been told that he would not be allowed to continue. Mercedes still have hope of a podium with Lewis Hamilton jumping up to fourth at the restart. The Briton then took advantage of a puncture for Max Verstappen to move up to third.
