Hamilton - Russell “will grow” after “wrong reaction” to Bottas crash

Lewis Hamilton has praised George Russell for apologising to Valtteri Bottas after their horror smash at the last grand prix in Imola but revealed he believes the young British driver was wrong to react the way he did during the incident.

Mercedes protégé Russell, who is currently racing for Williams, remonstrated with rival Bottas while the current Mercedes driver sat in his stricken machine after the pair collided at around 200mph.

Russell accused Bottas of moving across on him and putting the pair in danger, only to later issue an apology the following day.

Hamilton said: “Naturally, our actions say the most, but the fact is when we are young we make mistakes and in the heat of the moment I think it’s sometimes difficult for people to fully understand.

“When your heart's at 180 and you go through an adrenaline rush experience like that, you're not always going to be the way people expect you to be.

“Firstly, the good thing is that they’re both safe, and I think afterwards perhaps he got back to his motorhome and saw exactly what happened and, having had time to cool down and reflect on it, realised his actions weren’t correct.”

Russell came under fire after the incident from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who criticised the young driver for his part in the accident and for the fact he had caused costly damage to one of the team’s cars.

Wolff has since confirmed to holding discussions with both Bottas and Russell, and there are no rules in place should the Williams driver again find himself racing a Mercedes.

Speaking further about Russell’s response, Hamilton added: “Again, it’s not how you fall it's how you get back. In apologising, that's the first step and I'm sure he'll grow from it.”

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