Mercedes told to sack Russell ‘on the spot’ for incident involving Hamilton

Mercedes should have sacked George Russell after colliding with Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix, according to a British racing star. Sportscar driver Richard Bradley suggests the Silver Arrows should have handed Russell his “P45” after the hair-raising moment in Q2.

It comes after Bradley admits Russell likely turned in on his team-mate on purpose in what could have caused a devastating shunt. When asked to pick his driver of the day, Bradley told On Track GP podcast: “One of the reasons I wouldn’t pick George. What happened in qualifying with Lewis was just unforgivable, unforgivable.

“There is absolutely no way he wouldn’t have checked his mirrors before he started that lap. You always, always have a check before starting your push lap. He knew exactly where Lewis was. Everything he says is complete rubbish, he knew exactly what he was doing.

“I’m amazed he wasn’t handed his P45 on the spot for that, that could have been like an aircraft crash.”

The two Mercedes drivers came together on the start-finish straight in the second part of qualifying. Russell veered to the right as he approached a slow-moving Ferrari just as Hamilton was attempting to pass on the outside.

The move forced Hamilton onto the grass as the 38-year-old took evasive action in a desperate attempt to keep his car in one piece. After regaining control of the W14, Hamilton was quick to blast Russell’s actions over team radio.

He moaned: “George just backed off. That’s really dangerous. I might have some damage on the car.” After the session, Russell blamed a “miscommunication” despite receiving a formal warning from FIA stewards.

The ex-Williams driver said: “I hope that wasn’t part of the plan, because it’s not a good plan if it is! No, I think it was just a big miscommunication, a lot of traffic on the out-lap, I was just looking ahead trying to take the slipstream from Carlos [Sainz], and the next thing [I know] Lewis was there. Fortunately, nothing big happened.”

But, Russell refused to accept the incident had been caused because Mercedes were trying to manufacture a tow. Russell was eventually knocked out of Q2 and was forced to start the Spanish GP from 12th.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff stressed there would be an internal review into the incident. He commented: “It shouldn’t happen. Team-mates should never collide and even with another car you shouldn’t collide in qualifying.”