F1 News: George Russell reflects on “unfortunate” Sainz incident
George Russell’s race in America was another poor performance, with the British drivers’ consistency in the early stages of the season completely absent in recent events.
The 24-year-old was culpable for taking out Carlos Sainz into turn 1, completely missing his braking point and ruining the Spaniard’s race.
Russell faced a relatively tame 5-second penalty, spending much of the race squabbling to finish in the top 5.
As quoted by the Mercedes American GP race report, Russell conceded that he drove poorly:
“It was a difficult afternoon for me – very unfortunate how things unfolded at the start, as I don’t want to be in a position where I contribute to another driver having to retire.
“It’s probably the furthest we’ve been away from the midfield and the closest we’ve been to the front for quite a while, so a good step forward this weekend.
“The team back at the factory are doing a great job continuing to upgrade the car, trying to make it a little bit lighter and understanding what we need to work on for next year, and that’s where most of our focus currently is.
“Obviously, I want to get back on the podium because the last time feels an age ago.
“We had such a good run of form, but the last couple of races didn’t go well in terms of my personal performance.”
