George Russell (4th): Ridicule and mockery after a rookie error – what happened?

Just to get this out of the way for everyone who’s now happily picking on George Russell: We’re talking about a driver who has secured 12 pole positions, 8 wins, 13 fastest laps and 32 podium finishes – a driver who has stood up to the great Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. So a bit of respect, please?

Admittedly, this incident was unusual in the spectacular São Paulo Grand Prix – whilst changing from intermediates to dry tyres, George Russell attempted to return to the track and spun out in the narrow pit lane exit!

The fact that the current third-placed driver in the World Championship managed not to crash the car into the crash barriers is, in itself, worthy of applause. But the fact remains: what looked like a rookie error cost Russell his chance of a podium finish. In the end, the 28-year-old Briton finished fourth.

Afterwards, the internet was awash with mockery and scorn directed at the Englishman. But anyone who took a second look quickly realised – it could have happened to anyone.

Numerous drivers struggled with the soft tyres on the out-lap and were visibly teetering on the brink of losing grip. A little more speed was all it took for Russell to spin out.

George later explained: “The tyres weren’t up to temperature; that was the reason for the slip. And when I tried to turn the car around, I realised I didn’t have enough power – that’s just one of the quirks of these power units.”

“Of course the mistake annoys me, but what’s more important to me is that we’ve secured the Constructors’ Championship. I would have preferred to have contributed to it with a bit more style, but that’s just the way it is.”

“Even though the run-off area leading back onto the track was slippery, I’m still not entirely sure what exactly happened there. I reckon I simply took too much of a risk. At that stage, I sensed a chance of victory, so I did everything I could to avoid losing time. In moments like that, a bit more daring can make the difference between victory and defeat, and this time it backfired on me.”

“The irony of it all: because that happened, I decided against another pit stop to switch back to soft tyres, and in the end that put me back in the same position I was in before the tyre change.”

“We had solid pace on the soft tyres; at that stage, we had the fastest car. And it’s been a while since that was the case. So I want to focus on the positives – the Constructors’ Championship title for Mercedes is in the bag, and I had a better weekend than in Texas and Mexico.”