George Russell ignores Martin Brundle advice after Lewis Hamilton near-miss

George Russell ignored Martin Brundle’s advice after almost colliding with Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race. Brundle suggested that Russell should say sorry to Hamilton for “mugging off” the seven-time champion on his final lap. 

The ex-Williams driver locked up his tyres on the run into turn one which left his car right in front of Hamilton’s on the run to Eau Rouge. Hamilton was then forced to lift off the throttle as the pair headed onto the Kemmel Straight in a nervy near-miss. 

After qualifying, Hamilton suggested the incident and a lack of communication at Mercedes could have cost him pole. Weighing in on it, Brundle explained on Sky Sports F1: “I think he owes Lewis an apology.”

But a disgruntled Russell appeared to pay little heed to Brundle’s advice as he voiced his frustrations at Mercedes’ poor performance. 

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the 25-year-old said: “It was a total mess from start to finish to be honest. Surprised I got into SQ3 as so many mistakes from my side and then a bit of miscommunication at the end. 

“I think we were stressing about the clock finishing and I think we had more time on the clock than we expected. I was too close to the car in front, Lewis was too close to me. Bad, bad session.

“We thought we weren’t going to make the lap because the clock was running down but there was definitely more time on the clock than we thought as Max was the last car to cross the line. This weekend is really not going to plan, I hope we can make a bit of a recovery in the races. Definitely confident we’ll be quicker in the races but so far single lap qualifying has been rubbish.”

Hamilton was quickest after the first runs in SQ3 but was pipped by Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez as the track dried. The seven-time champion waved his hands in frustration at Russell after being forced to lift off while the former champion also complained over the team radio.

The delay meant Hamilton was unable to get a clean run when conditions were at their best, at the end of the session. The 38-year-old also pointed the finger at his Mercedes team for leaving both drivers baffled as to how long was left in the session.

He explained: “I reckon I could have been first or second on that last lap. Communication was pretty poor, it was difficult to understand – we got to the last corner and there were seven cars trundling around. We thought we didn’t have any more time left which was why we were pushing but it turns out we had plenty of time. With George…it’s the way it is. It doesn’t really matter.”