Lewis Hamilton and George Russell likely held their breath briefly in the closing stages of Q2 at the Spanish Grand Prix, as the duo collided down the start/finish straight.
Hamilton and Russell endured very different qualifying sessions, with Russell having complained throughout.
The 25-year-old was eliminated in Q2 and will provisionally start Sunday’s race from twelfth, whilst Hamilton progressed to Q3 and managed to claim fifth.
Hamilton was remarkably second following the first push laps in Q3; however, he was unable to hold on to P2.
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With Pierre Gasly likely to receive a grid penalty for impeding, Hamilton will more likely than not start the race from fourth, with the Frenchman having qualified ahead of him.
The 38-year-old was perhaps fortunate to even appear in Q3, having been forced off the circuit by Russell.
Russell was right ahead of Hamilton in Q2 as the pair began their final push lap, with Hamilton having received a huge tow from the former Williams driver.
Russell left a gap on his left-hand side which Hamilton attempted to go down along the start/finish straight, before suddenly squeezing his team-mate off the circuit.
The duo did in fact make contact, with the incident having broken Hamilton’s front wing.
Whilst it initially looked like Russell’s fault, YouTuber CYMotorsport took to social media to show that the Briton hadn’t even seen Hamilton, with Russell having been dealing with Carlos Sainz who was going slowly on the far left-hand side of the circuit.
Whether Russell receives a grid penalty remains to be seen, with the incident set to be investigated by the stewards.
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Based on what CYMotorsport said on Twitter, there was little that Russell could’ve done to have avoided his team-mate; however, the FIA likely won’t have been pleased to see a high-speed incident down the start/finish straight.
“I don’t understand how the commentators are missing this – but George IMO absolutely did not mean to impede Lewis. He was dealing with Sainz,” wrote @CYMotorsport on Twitter.
“Looking closely at the onboard, he never overtly glances left a single time and seems genuinely surprised to see Lewis on his left.”