New Mercedes signing George Russell revealed the most embarrassing moment of his career, saying it was his horror collision with Valtteri Bottas.
Russell has done a lot of wondrous things in F1. However, one of his not-so-fine moments came this season at Imola. There, he collided into ex-Mercedes driver Bottas and took himself and the Finn out of the race.
Immediately after the clash, the Englishman blamed the 10-time race winner and had some expletives for him. However, it was the young driver’s fault, and many fans called him out for it.
As a result, Russell revealed the most embarrassing moment of his career to be his collision with Bottas.
“Probably crashing into Valtteri in Imola, 2021,” he said when asked which moment he regretted the most in F1, as quoted by formula1news.co.uk.
Rage flaring
The collision led to a red flag which suspended the race as there was debris all over the track with 30 laps remaining.
Russell was picking up on Bottas down the main straight. In order to try and move around the Mercedes, he moved to the right-hand side of the track. But the then Williams driver ended up touching the white line on the track side which made him lose control and spear right into Bottas.
Both drivers were upset with the outcome of the incident. Russell made his way to the cockpit of Bottas’ car and tapped his helmet. The Finn responded with a middle finger. After the crash, Bottas made it absolutely clear that the accident was Russell’s fault as there was enough room for him.
“I could see him earlier on the straight, then I noticed that he moved to the right,” Bottas said.
“From the replays I saw, I always left space for two cars to be there, but he obviously lost it and hit me, and that was game over.
“I don’t know what he was on about, because it was clearly his mistake. So I was not happy with him. But that’s how it is.”
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