Russell blames Mercedes for collision with team-mate Hamilton at Spanish GP qualifying

George Russell has blamed his team after colliding with team-mate Lewis Hamilton and demanded internal talks after the incident.

The Brit has it all to do as he is set to start 12th on the grid after a miserable showing, failing to make it to the final part of qualifying. 

Speaking to The Mirror, Russell pointed the finger at his team and defended his innocence after forcing Hamilton onto the grass on a tight turn. 

‘It was just a massive miscommunication,’ he revealed. ‘I was looking ahead trying to get the slipstream from Carlos [Sainz] and next thing Lewis was there.

‘So we need to talk internally about how that happened, because between two team-mates, it never should. It was neither [driver’s] fault. 

Hamilton described the collission as ‘really dangerous’ but doesn’t hold Russell accountable

Russell slammed Mercedes for the incident and admitted that communication should be better

‘Nothing by either driver was necessarily wrong, just within the team, it shouldn’t happen and the communication should be better.’

The driver continued to admit that he believes the setup of his car led to his failure and knew that he was going to perform badly before stepping onto the track. 

He continued: ‘We made some small changes from FP3 to qualifying and the car was bouncing. 

‘The high speed corners that were easy flat in practice, I couldn’t take flat, couldn’t the tyres working and it all went wrong.

‘Back in Q1, I knew we weren’t going to have a good day, it was strange. We should be capitalising on conditions like that, we usually do – the team is very good when it is challenging. 

‘It was pretty telling the first lap in Q1 with [Nico] Hulkenberg P1, one-a-half-seconds quicker than we could achieve.

‘I was trying all sorts on the out lap, all sorts of pressures, and we probably just got ourselves a bit confused. A set-up change we made into qualifying was definitely the wrong direction for these cold, damp, greasy conditions, which is a shame especially because I think we have a fast race car.’

Hamilton himself described the collission as ‘really dangerous’, but luckily both drivers escaped unharmed and will try to put the incident behind them and move on as a team.