© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
George Russell says he had spoken to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff about his crash with Valtteri Bottas and their “relationship has not been damaged”.
After the crash with Valtteri Bottas at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Russell exchanged a few angry words, and then ‘tapped’ the Finn’s helmet while he was still in the car.
Later Russell said the crash was Bottas’ fault, and even accused the Finn of defending his position harder than he would with any other driver, insinuating that it was because he is considered a candidate for a Mercedes seat in 2022.
Later he publicly apologized and admitted the crash was “probably” not Valtteri’s fault. During the Portuguese Grand Prix Thursday press conference George Russell once again apologized for his conduct.
“The incident is one thing, it’s part of racing, and these things do happen,” the Briton explained.
“I think the actions I did afterwards were not my true self, I sort of went against my own instincts to… show a bit of emotion, which was probably a very poor judgement call in the heat of the moment, which led onto a few more things later that afternoon.
“That’s why I felt like it was necessary for me to put that out on Monday morning. My emotions had probably never been higher having just crashed at 200mph.
“That was a big lesson for me that you need to take a moment to walk away from a situation, look at it from all angles and just look at it rationally.
“But I think, for me it was important to put that statement out.”
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Russell’s accusations were noted by Toto Wolff, who called his theory “bulls**t” and said that, as their junior driver, he should be more careful when battling Mercedes. At the press conference Russell said he has been in contact with Wolff after the whole ordeal.
“Of course. Toto and I have spoken extensively since the incident – but the contents of that will remain private.
“But he’s been very supportive, very constructive. Our relationship has not been damaged at all following the incident. If anything, quite the opposite.
“And likewise with everybody at Williams, they’ve been incredibly supportive, they want me to attack, go for opportunities and we’re proud to have been in that position, we were in 10th position and fighting for points on merit… so we’ve got to be proud of the progress.”
Earlier this week Russell said he considers Hamilton and Bottas “team-mates of sorts”, which means he should be more careful when battling them on the track. At the conference he reiterated this statement, but said there are no “rules of engagement” for future battles.
“I think first if we find ourselves fighting a Mercedes again, we’ll be doing a very good job and we’ll be in a very good position, so hopefully we do find ourselves in that circumstance.
“But no, definitely there’s no rules of engagement [laid out], it’s just a bit more of common sense.
“As a racing driver, I think the first rule is you should never crash with your team mate. I would not be in the position I am today without the support of Mercedes.
“They’ve had my back since day one, and as consequence, Lewis and Valtteri are team mates of sorts to me, and regardless of the circumstances, we should not be coming together on track, whether it was my fault, his fault or a racing incident,” concluded Russell.
