George Russell SAVED by F1 rivals following huge crash

George Russell, Mercedes, Australia, 2024, Crash, Screengrab — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Russell SAVED by F1 rivals following huge crash

Aston Martin’s sharp call helped to prevent significant injury

Shay Rogers

Tuesday 26 March 2024 21:00

A Formula 1 team’s sharp reaction to George Russell’s heavy shunt at the Australian Grand Prix helped to avoid a much more serious situation.

After losing control of his Mercedes car on the penultimate lap of the race, while following Fernando Alonso, Russell hit the barriers and was spat back onto the track sideways.

The main issue was the nature of the corner where he laid helpless – turn six, which is very high-speed and has a blind entry.

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It would have been a devastating impact if Lance Stroll, who was behind Russell at the time, was to enter the corner at his usual speeds.

Lance Stroll was warned heading into turn five

Aston Martin help Russell avoid major injuries

Thankfully, Stroll's Aston Martin race engineer, Ben Mitchell, responded in double quick time to alert Stroll of the danger ahead.

The danger posed by the incident and other crashes since a restructuring of turn six in 2022 poses questions about the safety of the run-off and barriers at that part of the circuit.

Perhaps a move to push the barrier back, or reprofile the exit of the corner, could help avoid similar or worse incidents in the future.

Mercedes George Russell Aston Martin Fernando Alonso Australian Grand Prix Lance Stroll