29 July 2023 , 12:46
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George Russell should apologise to Lewis Hamilton for "mugging" his Mercedes teammate in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint.
That's the view of Martin Brundle, who was left unimpressed by the younger Brit. Speaking after the session, the Sky Sports pundit was critical of Russell for his on-track conduct which ended up impeding his team-mate.
Both hoped to improve their times on their final attempted laps at the end of the session. Approaching the final chicane ahead of starting their runs, Hamilton was ahead of the other Mercedes on track.
Russell suddenly cut past to get ahead on track, but immediately made an error. His front left wheel locked up heading into La Source, the first corner on the track, and he was forced off the track.
Hamilton had to slow to avoid running into his team-mate and, later in the lap, had to lift off again before eventually moving past Russell. The seven-time world champion was clearly unimpressed. Informed that he had qualified seventh, almost a full second behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen, Hamilton retorted: "Yeah, it doesn't help when you're held up."
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And Brundle was critical of Russell who has endured a difficult weekend so far. The Sky pundit said: "He's made a lot of mistakes and he's been open and honest about that. I think he owes Lewis an apology for what happened, by mugging him around the outside, starting a lap and then making the mistake in front of him.
Martin Brundle was left unimpressed by the younger Brit (Sky Sports)"He should have yielded at that point, with Lewis on his tail coming out of La Source. It's been a scrappy weekend for George but, as they say, they hand the prizes out at the end of the race."
Russell explained that he had rushed to start his lap because he was worried about doing so in time to set a time. He said: "It was a total mess from start to finish, to be honest. I'm surprised I got to Q3 because of so many mistakes on my side. And then there was a bit of miscommunication at the end.
"I think we were stressing about the clock finishing, but he had more time than expected. I was too close to the car in front and Lewis was too close to me. A bad, bad session."
And Hamilton rued the potential impact that it had on his result. Instead of lining up seventh on the grid for the Sprint, as will be the case, the 38-year-old said he felt second place or even pole was achievable had he not been held up.