George Russell’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was over early after finding himself involved in a crash with Nikita Mazepin after everyone bunched up following the crash between Sergio Pérez and Charles Leclerc at turn three on lap fifteen.
The Williams Racing driver had lost positions on the opening lap at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and was running amongst the midfield after the restart following Mick Schumacher’s crash.
Heading into turn three, Russell came up quickly on the crash involving Pérez and Leclerc and put on the brakes, only for his evening under the floodlights to come to an early conclusion with damage after Mazepin struck the back of his car.
“I came through the small kink of turn three and there were cars everywhere,” said Russell. “I hit the brakes to slow down and unfortunately, I got hit from behind, was up in the air and that was our day over.
“It’s a shame but with such a narrow track that is so fast, and with the size of these cars, an accident is almost inevitable.”
Russell has one more race to go at Williams before he moves to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in 2022, and he hopes to go out on a high in Abu Dhabi.
“Heading to Abu Dhabi, we need to find a bit more speed from the car so we can be battling a little higher up the field,” said Russell. “It’s my last race with Williams next week and I want to finish on a high.”
“Today was a very tough race, both physically and mentally” – Nicholas Latifi
Team-mate Nicholas Latifi ended the race in twelfth but admitted it was a tough evening in Saudi Arabia, both physically and mentally.
However, the Canadian was pleased with his performance, and he says he will go into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this coming weekend with extra confidence as he bids to end his best season in Formula 1 to date on a high.
“Today was a very tough race, both physically and mentally,” said Latifi. “Trying to keep the rhythm and the tyre temperature through the many restarts and safety cars is always challenging, but I gave it everything I had and I was fortunate not to get caught in the collision ahead of me during the second start.
“It was a good race to learn from as we head into our final event of the season in Abu Dhabi next week.”
