George Russell takes blame for Q2 crash but reveals no grid penalty for damage

Russell, Williams, DutchGP — Photo: © LAT Images

Dutch Grand Prix

Russell takes blame for Q2 crash but reveals no grid penalty for damage

Russell crashed out at the penultimate corner at Zandvoort

Ewan Gale

Saturday 4 September 2021 17:35

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George Russell took full blame for his Dutch Grand Prix qualifying exit after a crash at the penultimate corner prevented him from reaching Q3 but revealed there should be no need to take a grid penalty for damage.

The Williams driver was up on the time he needed to reach the top 10 as the first of the final 15 to begin his last flying lap in the second session but lost control into the fast right-hander and backed his FW43B into the barrier.

Despite rejoining the track and getting back to the garage under red-flag conditions, the damage to the rear suspension was such that he was not able to continue in the session.

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"We weren't quite on the pace this weekend as much as we might have hoped and I was on a really good lap," Russell told Sky Sports F1.

"I came up to the penultimate corner, the tight right-left and my tyres were going. I pushed too hard and obviously, I just attacked that last corner too much and lost the rear so really sorry for the team because that's not how we want to end our qualifying.

"There is a bit of damage on the rear suspension so there shouldn't be any penalties, no issues and nothing the guys wouldn't be able to fix overnight.

"Sorry to the team because at that point, it would have promoted me into the top 10.

"Where that would have panned out later in the session, I don't know but I felt like I had to go for it and see what I could have done. Not how I want to finish qualifying."

Russell expects strategy battle at Zandvoort

Overtaking is expected to be extremely tricky given the nature of the Zandvoort track, with the only expected opportunity at the first corner with DRS assistance.

Russell is optimistic, however, as he has a free choice of tyres from 11th, while no team can be sure of the optimum strategy.

"It is a circuit that you will really struggle to overtake but nobody knows how the tyres are going to react," he explained.

"There are so many right-hand corners on this circuit so that front-left tyre and rear-left tyre are going to take an absolute pounding so that is going to make it tricky.

"Some people have kept two medium tyres, maybe thinking for the two-stop, some people haven't, but still maybe thinking of the two-stop, maybe risking a one-stop.

"Because it is a new experience and we only did 12 laps in a row on Friday, we have got 72 tomorrow so we don't know how that is going to pan out."