George Russell apologizes for ‘unacceptable’ safety car accident

The British driver retired from 10th place after tire warm-up failed behind the last Imola safety car; Hamilton and Grosjean send messages of support

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George Russell crashes into the barriers behind the safety car during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

A frustrated and regretful George Russell said he was “very sorry” to his Williams team for crashing under the safety car and missing a possible first result in the early points of his F1 career.

The Williams driver, who was back in qualifying for 13th on the grid, was running 10th with 12 laps to go when he lost control of his car at Acque Minerali and crashed into the outer wall.

Russell has yet to score a point in 34 grands prix, while Williams doesn’t have a point in 2020 and is now in jeopardy of his first full scoreless season with four runs remaining.

“Smashing to be honest. I really don’t know what to say,” said Russell, who sat heartbroken on the side of the track after climbing out of his wrecked car.

“I worked as hard as I could to keep the tires running, I was pushing as hard as I could during the race and it was probably the most on the limit I’ve been in the whole race.”

“I think it was really showing itself and we were in such a good position. Obviously I just passed the limit under the safety car and as soon as I lost the car it was too late and I was on the wall.”

“I’m really sorry for the team and unacceptable of me.”

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George Russell said he had no excuses after crashing his Williams behind the Safety Car during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

The Briton, who earlier in the weekend had been named by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso as his young driver to look to the future, explained: “I was accelerating and changing gears at the same time and only on cold tires .. .

“This sometimes happens on cold tires and it was my job to try and work with them as hard as possible to keep Kimi [Raikkonen] and Sebastian [Vettel] behind with hot new tires.

“But there are no excuses. I’ll go away and learn from this and come back stronger next time.”

Hamilton and Grosjean send messages

Writing on Instagram Sunday night, Russell wrote: “I will never forget this day, this mistake. I will learn from it, I will be stronger for it. I am so sorry, to the whole team. There are no excuses.”

That prompted Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean, two of F1’s oldest drivers, to send their support to the 22-year-old.

“George, you were giving it your all,” wrote six-time champion Hamilton.

“It’s okay to make mistakes and it’s okay to feel the pain. I’ve done more than I can remember. You are a great friend. Keep your head up and keep moving on to the next one.”

Grosjean, who crashed behind the Safety Car in Baku in 2018, wrote: “Man, I know the feeling. It will take some time to forget, but what you do is mega. Keep pushing.”