© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
George Russell had a bad time at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, after his conduct during and after his crash with Valtteri Bottas got him in hot water with Mercedes.
Not only did Toto Wolff say that, as a Mercedes junior driver, Russell has to be more mindful of how he races against a Mercedes, but he was also blasted for lashing out at Bottas post-crash.
The young Briton now admits the whole situation was “a massive lesson” for him.
“I guess that was a bit of a reality check,” Russell told the F1 Nation podcast.
“That in a split second, you can almost go from hero to zero, and your whole perception could potentially be changed, and your whole future could be changed.
“I think that was a massive lesson for me in how to handle myself, sort of post-crash and in front of the media.
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“Even the crash itself, how things unfolded, whether it’s the right move to go for or not, and just the whole circumstance.
“I’d like to think I can look back and say that was an important lesson for me.”
Ultimately Russell says he will be more careful in similar situations in the future.
“I think I recognised very, very quickly that I couldn’t afford to make errors like that. Everybody has their own view, that it’s his fault or my fault.
“I have obviously got my own views and my own reasonings why I went for that, but going for a move is one thing, but then how you deal with the aftermath of it not panning out the way you wanted is a completely different story as well,” concluded the Briton.
