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George Russell has spoken about his collision with Max Verstappen at the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP. Both were racing fiercely before colliding with each other on lap 25 on turn 12.
Verstappen was catching up to Russell and dove down the inside line to overtake. However, the Mercedes driver turned in and normally followed the racing line, which caused the collision. While Verstappen lost the right front wing end plate, Russell also took some damage.
After the race, the British driver cooled down and reportedly admitted that it was his mistake to not see Verstappen on the inside before turning for the corner. Russell was not expecting the reigning world champion to overtake him right before the long straight that also had DRS and was thus taken by surprise.
“The incident with Max was totally my fault – I didn’t see him. [He was] totally in my blind spot around Turn 11. I wasn’t really expecting the overtake there because you’ve got the big long straight with DRS afterwards," Russell told Sky Sports.
Russell went on to claim that he could have raced for the podium if he had not collided and collected a five-second penalty for it.
"We were on course for an easy podium; it was pretty straightforward. I recovered to P4, but the five seconds knocked us down to P8,” he added.
Although Russell finished fourth in the Las Vegas GP, he was moved back to P8 due to the penalty.
George Russell summarizes his underwhelming 2023 F1 season
George Russell recently expressed how frustrated he was to miss several opportunities to shine in the 2023 F1 season.
"Standing here now, a little bit frustrated about the missed opportunity. Which is the story of the season. I feel like every time I stand in this TV pen, I’m saying it was a missed opportunity," said Russell after Austin GP (via F1.com)
The Mercedes driver claimed that he needs to work on grabbing opportunities as he feels he doesn't lack pace and performance.
"Whereas last year, I think out of 22 or 23 races, there was only one race where I was saying we missed an opportunity. Really need to have a think about what’s going on, because it’s not for a lack of pace and performance," Russell added.
As of now, Russell is eighth in the drivers' championship table with 160 points, while his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton is third with 232 points.
