© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
After his Qatar Grand Prix collision with George Russell, Lewis Hamilton said he doesn’t “think George had anywhere to go”, and added the collision was “100% my fault”.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell collided at Turn 1, on Lap 1 of the Qatar Grand Prix. Lewis started the race from P3, with George right in front of him in P2, and Max Verstappen in P1.
He tried to go round the outside of George and Max at Turn 1, but the left-front of George’s car collided with Lewis’ right-rear. The incident caused Lewis to retire from the race.
Immediately after their collision, Lewis said he got ‘taken out by his own team-mate’, while George said his team-mate “wasn’t even looking behind”.
After getting back to the paddock, Lewis was asked by Sky Sports F1 if he had seen a replay of the incident.
“No,” Lewis replied.
“I just feel really sorry to my team. It was an opportunity today to get some good points.
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“In the heat of the moment, I didn’t really understand what happened, I just obviously felt the tap from behind.
“But I don’t think George probably had anywhere to go and, yeah, it’s just one of those really unfortunate situations.
“I mean, I’m happy to take responsibility as the older one.”
Lewis added he will be supporting George in the race.
“It’s massively gutting to have a result like this. It’s very rare that this happens to me. I hope George is able to get back into the points today so I’ll be supporting him.”
Lewis then talked about the incident to other journalists in the media pen.
“In the heat of the moment, I felt so frustrated because I felt this tap from the rear, but I don’t think George had anywhere to go.
“It was just an unfortunate scenario, but I am happy to take responsibility because that is my role. I need to go back at look at it, but I don’t feel like it was George’s fault.
“Before the race, we knew that we’d have different tyres so he was like, ‘why don’t we work together today’, so we are talking about working together.
“It was not our plan to come together, it is just really gutting for the team who has worked so hard to be in that position and it is just really sad for everybody.
“It is frustrating whoever you touch with, but it is [more so] when both of us spun out and went down the order,” he concluded.
Afterwards, after seeing the replay of the incident, Lewis turned to social media to say it was “100% my fault”.
“I’ve watched the replay and it was 100% my fault and I take full responsibility,” he wrote.
“Apologies to my team and to George,” Lewis concluded.
