F1 News: Lewis Hamilton Speaks Out As George Russell Relationship Under Scrutiny

Lewis Hamilton has spoken about his relationship with George Russell after their Qatar Grand Prix collision.

In a dramatic opening lap at the Qatar Grand Prix, Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell collided, eliciting discussions about the dynamics within the team. However, Hamilton has expressed a continued "great relationship" with Russell post-incident.

Key Takeaways

• Despite their collision, Hamilton and Russell remain committed to a constructive and healthy team relationship, focusing on communication and collective team goals.
• Lewis Hamilton accepted accountability for the crash, recognising his risk in an aggressive overtaking attempt and assuring that his relationship with Russell is undamaged.
• Differences in tyre strategies between the Mercedes drivers were discussed pre-race, although it ultimately didn’t prevent the unfortunate collision, with both drivers being aware of the respective advantages and pitfalls.

Hamilton was forthright in acknowledging his part in the collision with teammate Russell, stating to Sky Italy:

"I'm happy to take responsibility as the older guy. I don't think George had anywhere to go at that point. I was trying to get ahead of both of them and just an unfortunate situation.

"I had the worst tyre of everyone around me, so I needed to try and get ahead. Big risk, big penalty."

Reiterating the intactness of their camaraderie, Hamilton highlighted:

"The relationship isn't broken. I don't have any problems with George, we have a great relationship, we work and we always talk about things. So this is definitely unfortunate and I'm sure he was frustrated in the moment like I was. But we will talk about it offline and we move forwards. As I said, just apologies to all of the team."

The race day saw the Mercedes team executing different tyre strategies for Hamilton and Russell, a situation anticipated and discussed by the drivers pre-race, but one that didn't prevent the inaugural collision between the teammates. Recalling their pre-race dialogue, Hamilton shared:

"Before the race we knew we had different tyres so he [Russell] was like 'let's just work together today'. So we were talking about just working together. It was not our plan to come together."

Bradley Lord, Mercedes communications director, reflected on the unexpected incident and noted:

"Then, in the moment, they all just ran out of space. George obviously had nowhere to go, Lewis tried to take his line and we saw what happened. Unfortunately, these things can happen and you can't programme everything, even with a discussion beforehand."

F1 News: Lewis Hamilton Out Of Qatar GP After George Russell Crash

Despite the earlier incident, Russell's adept recovery to finish fourth, combined with other race outcomes, facilitated Mercedes in extending their lead over Ferrari in the constructors' championship, underscoring the team's resilient performance amidst unforeseen race day dramas.