George Russell has admitted that his collision during Q2 with Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix was due to “massive miscommunication” with Mercedes, with the Briton having been unaware that his veteran team-mate was alongside him.
Having looked like the better Mercedes driver on Friday, Russell struggled throughout Saturday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, whilst Hamilton made his mark.
Hamilton struggled on Friday but was far superior over Russell on Saturday, with the 38-year-old having claimed fifth on the grid.
Russell on the other hand, could only salvage 12th, following an embarrassing Q2 elimination.
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To make matters worse for the 25-year-old, he’s under investigation along with his team-mate for a scary incident at the end of Q2, as both drivers started their final push laps.
Hamilton was right behind Russell as the duo started their laps, resulting in the seven-time World Champion receiving a huge tow.
Going slowly ahead of the pair was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who Russell was trying to get a bit of a tow from.
With Russell having moved slightly across the start/finish straight, Hamilton moved alongside the former Williams driver on his left-hand side.
However, as Hamilton pulled alongside Russell, the younger Mercedes driver moved back to the left-hand side, completely unaware that Hamilton was there.
Hamilton was slightly forced off the circuit at high-speed as a result, with his front wing having been broken following contact with Russell.
The incident is being investigated by the stewards, with Russell admitting that the team need to “talk internally” about how the collision was allowed to happen.
“It was just a massive miscommunication,” Russelln said.
“I was looking ahead trying to get the slipstream from Carlos and next thing Lewis was there, so we need to talk internally about how that happened, because between two teammates, it never should.
“It was neither [drivers’] fault.
“Nothing by either driver was necessarily wrong, just within the team, it shouldn’t happen and the communication should be better.”
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Hamilton also put the incident down to “miscommunication” and revealed that his car was “pulling to the right” following it, perhaps costing him a front row start.
“The car didn’t feel massively different,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“Afterwards, the car was pulling to the right. It was just a miscommunication thing but on the final lap it was alright.”