Valterri Bottas blames George Russell “completely” for Imola smash

Bottas, Russell, Imola — Photo: © LAT Images

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Bottas blames Russell “completely” for Imola smash

The two drivers were lucky to escape injury in the high-speed collision

Will Gray

Sunday 18 April 2021 18:35

Valterri Bottas has placed the blame “completely” on Mercedes-backed rival George Russell after their scary high-speed collision during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Russell lost control of his Williams on the grass as he tried to pass the Mercedes in slippery conditions while the pair battled over eighth position on lap 33 and both cars collided heavily with the barriers, stopping the race in the process.

The British driver said afterwards that Bottas had moved slightly across the track to defend his position, breaking a gentlemen’s agreement between the drivers that is in place to prevent major crashes such as this.

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As the Williams driver angrily approached Bottas in the immediate aftermath, the Finn remained in his car and raised his middle finger to his rival from the cockpit.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 about the discussion, Bottas explained: “I couldn’t hear a thing. I don’t know what he was on about when he was trying to say something, but it was completely his fault, so quite disappointing.

“No points from today and I struggled even until the crash but obviously nobody knows what could have been still possible. We need to take learnings from this weekend and move on.”

Bottas was taken to the medical centre after the incident but released after a check-over, adding: “It was quite a big one, it was quite high speed, obviously it could have been a lot worse but I’m ok.

“I think that lap, or just before the DRS was available for people, I was still struggling with the warm-up of the tyres, with the dry tyres, and then George got close.

“He obviously went for an overtake in a place where there’s pretty much only one dry line and I’ve seen the replay and there was definitely space for two cars all the time.”