George Russell learns from his collision with Valtteri Bottas at Imola in 2021
George Russell believes he has finally benefited from his collision with Valtteri Bottas at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in 2021.
In 2021, as George Russell was racing for Williams on the wet Emilie-Romagne circuit, he loses control of his car and collides with Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes. Both drivers are forced to retire. Despite the consequences of this retirement, George Russell now believes that he has benefited from this collision.
Such an incident could hardly please the driver who was hoping for a seat within the Mercedes team for the 2022 season. This collision was a blow to the 23-year-old, ambitious driver at the time. But that was without counting on his excellent performances during the rest of the season, which ultimately earned him a call-up to Mercedes for 2022.
Interviewed by the High Performance Podcast, Russell reveals that he hadn’t considered the fact that he was racing against a Mercedes during the Imola collision, and that he has learned a lot from his fiery reaction to the accident.
“It didn’t even really cross my mind that it was Valtteri and a Mercedes in front, it was an opportunity to score points for me and for my team,” he revealed.
« I was furious with Valtteri, which was probably not the right thing to do. It was an opportunity that I saw, which has now just disappeared. It’s not like I crashed into Valtteri or a Mercedes. These are points that we [Williams] have lost, and I thought he had lost them for us. »
(E) It was probably a lesson for me: one must look at the bigger picture from others’ perspective before making a quick judgment. I was very annoyed and I overlooked it, he was also annoyed, fingers were flying and the words “F” and “C” were thrown around, and it was not a very pleasant situation. It was also a very good learning moment for me; you must take a moment to think before making quick judgments.
A learning experience from which the British driver will have drawn many excellent performances during the 2022 season, scoring 249 points more than in 2021, standing on the podium 8 times, and winning his first Grand Prix of his career in Brazil.
