George Russell said he broke his head rest during his accident in qualifying for the Sao Paulo sprint race. The Brit spun into the barriers in the final session which resulted in a red flag and nobody was able to improve their time. The Mercedes star had already secured P3 for Saturday’s sprint race behind Max Verstappen and surprise pole sitter Kevin Magnussen.
Reflecting on his session in which he incurred some damage to this car Russell said: “There were some mixed emotions for me in that session. It was a pretty unique experience in Q3. We were one of the last cars on the road, and as the lap progressed, the rain was falling harder and harder and it was a lot wetter in the final corner than on the lap before,” he added.
“On the next lap, I lost the car into Turn 4 and actually broke the headrest because my head was bouncing round so much; then I tried to do a 360 and beached the rear tyres in the gravel, which wasn’t my best decision. There’s a lot of gravel in there but the guys will have to take it to pieces to get everything out, so hopefully it will all be okay. Even so, P3 is a good starting position for tomorrow.
“I have to say a massive congrats to Kevin and Haas on pole. These kinds of unexpected results are exactly what make sport so special,” the 24-year-old concluded. Despite the crash, Russell has admitted no lasting damage has been done to his W13. "There should be no damage," he said.
"You are always tentative as it is lifted onto the tow truck and there is a lot of gravel so the guys are going to have to take the car to pieces tonight to make sure we have got all of the gravel out, but it should be ok." His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult session as he finished eighth ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Due the weather conditions, the top 10 contenders only had enough time to complete just one lap on the slicks. Unfortunately for Hamilton, he was one of the last cars back on the track in Q3 and could only manage eighth in the end.
“I just went out to see what the conditions were like but obviously it was properly wet. It’s motor racing," the seven-time world champion said.
“Not really. It was difficult to see the conditions, it was difficult to see the rain drops and it was so dark. I was the last car out so I think I got the earliest part of the rain.
"I probably lost too much temperature in the pit lane as well. Just a bit unfortunate. George did a great job and congratulations to Kevin.”
