Williams’ George Russell affirms there are no excuses for his “unacceptable” mistake that saw him crash out of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Briton was on course for his first points in Formula 1 before he spun under a Safety Car period and hit the wall, eliminating himself from the race.
At the time of the crash, Russell was running in front of Kimi Raikkonen, who would cross the line a handful of laps later in ninth place.
“I don’t really know what to say,” Russell said. “I was working as hard as I could to keep the tyres working.
“I was pushing the tyres throughout the race. It’s probably the most on the limit I’ve ever been throughout the whole of the race.
“I think it was really showing and we were in such a good position. Obviously I went over the limit.
“[There was] another Safety Car, as soon as I lost the car it was already too late and I was in the wall. Really sorry for the team and unacceptable from my side.”
Russell added that he was working hard to generate temperature in his tyres after opting not to pit for the late Safety Car, which resulted in him going over the edge.
“I was accelerating, I was changing gear at the same time, just with cold tyres… this sometimes happens with cold tyres.
“It was my job to try and work them as hard as I can to try and keep Kimi and Sebastian [Vettel] behind me who are the new, hot fresh tyres.
“But no excuses. I’ll go away and learn from this and try to come back stronger next time.”
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