George Russell showed relief that Guanyu Zhou was okay after his heavy crash at the start of the British GP. The Englishman explained that it all happened because of the total lack of grip on the hard tires
George Russell was one of the protagonists of the most frightening accident of the 2022 Formula 1 season in England. Starting eighth, the home driver was unable to generate heat on his hard tires, came to a virtual standstill at the start, and, when touched by Pierre Gasly, went all out on Guanyu Zhou, who rolled over and flew into the tire barrier.
Russell acknowledged that the choice to start in England on hard tyres was not a good one. Without warm-up tires, the reflex was to be run over by the pack. The Englishman also showed relief to see Zhou get out of the car conscious.
"First of all, I am happy that Zhou is okay after an absolutely horrendous accident. We went for the risk, starting with hard tires because I made a mistake in qualifying and we started well behind where we should have been. We thought the risk would give us the best chance in the race, but I started without any grip, the tires were frozen, I got swallowed," he told British broadcaster Sky Sports.
George also complained that he could not try to get back into the race during the red flag period. The Mercedes driver, however, admitted that the FIA only followed the regulations.
"Only afterwards I was still touched, then I hit Zhou and that's what happened. I ran out of the car to see if Zhou was okay, I saw that they had red-flagged it. When I came back, I couldn't get out of there, even though I asked the officials to let me out. If you get assistance from them, you can't re-start. We tried to appeal, but the FIA wouldn't let us. It is one of those unique scenarios," he added.
The crash at the start ended an incredible streak for Russell. The Englishman had been in the top-5 for the first nine races of 2022, his first nine as a Mercedes starter.