Vettel leaps to Russell's defence over Bottas outburst

Sebastian Vettel has defended George Russell for his emotional outburst after colliding with F1 rival Valtteri Bottas at Imola.

Williams driver Russell's anger-fuelled comments at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sparked heated arguments with his Mercedes counterpart and team principal Toto Wolff with the British driver later apologising for his actions.

Vettel, who along with Russell is a Grand Prix Drivers' Association director, explained that emotions are a double-edged sword and that outsiders tend to find negative opinions no matter how a driver reacts to a situation.

"Emotions go both ways," said Vettel. "They go positive and they go negative otherwise they wouldn't be emotions.

"They can't swing only one way. There would be no highs without lows or lows without highs.

"Nowadays, the question I guess is what do the people want? On the one hand, they want emotions and on the other, if they get emotions they say 'How can you? How dare you? Why did you do this and why did you do that?'"

Vettel added that whilst boundaries are important, it is equally important for a driver to remain true to themselves, with negativity bound to follow irrespective of how they respond to an incident.

"I think the secret is you cannot please everyone so just be yourself," added Vettel.

"There are limits to the actions we do on track and maybe off track but I don't think you should worry that much.

"But nowadays, everybody has an opinion and it is what people want to write and read about so we can understand the background."

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 Qualifying Results: Pierre Gasly takes staggering pole position at Italian Grand Prix

• 2 minutes ago

Lewis Hamilton brought his 'lucky dust' to Monza, the most important woman in his life

• 1 hour ago

F1 2026 Italian Grand Prix weather forecast - latest from Monza after heat hazard declared

• 1 hour ago

Max Verstappen works with new race engineer at Italian Grand Prix as Lambiase replacement emerges

• 2 hours ago

Mick Schumacher's new team announced as F1 celebrates legendary father at Monza

• 2 hours ago

F1 Results Today: Italian Grand Prix final practice times and positions

• 3 hours ago