George Russell had to visit the stewards after qualifying in Austria after his crash on the Red Bull Ring track. They decided not to penalize the fifth on the grid for the short race.
George Russell had to visit the stewards after qualifying in Austria after his crash on the Red Bull Ring track. They decided not to penalize the fifth on the grid for the short race.
A driver cannot enter the track after an accident, even if there is a red flag as in qualifying at Spielberg. However, the stewards decided that a caution was enough for Russell.
"We usually have a better race pace than qualifying pace," he told Sky Sports after the crash, "we're definitely there in the fight. As a team, probably our best qualifying of the year in terms of pace, but probably the worst in terms of result."
"We know we brought some things to the car, we know Ferrari and Red Bull were probably pushing the limits with the boards a bit more than the interpretation and probably those things coming together came in our favor," the Mercedes driver explained.
When asked how he felt after the incident, Russell made it clear that he was fine, but didn't want to get ahead of the race and was worried about whether the car would be ready and what setup to use.
He finished with, "Lewis was doing a phenomenal job, he was absolutely flying today. I think I probably got the setup wrong for qualifying, but I might be in a good place for the race. I feel good.