George Russell was left furious with teammate Lewis Hamilton during Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.
The Mercedes duo made it to Q3 in Barcelona, but Russell was left less-than impressed at Hamilton..
Dialing into the team radio, Russell said: “What the f*** was Lewis doing, prepping that lap?”
Trying to defuse the situation, his race engineer responded, saying: “He just… it’s fine.
“We’ll talk about it afterwards. Head in the game.”
However, after qualifying it was revealed the mix-up came as they attempted to get into Esteban Ocon’s slipstream.
Russell told Motorsport.com: “Lewis was quite a long way ahead of me, but I think we both had our eyes on the same driver for a slipstream opening the lap.
“I was just focusing on my mirrors not to impede Ocon and next time I looked it up Lewis was right in front of me trying to take the tow from Ocon.
“Obviously, we’re in the moment and when you’re trying to get everything [right], you’re a bit hotheaded. But nothing gained, nothing lost and there was nothing more to it.”
While Russell was able to get himself refocused for the task ahead, it was Hamilton who came out on top between the pair.
Taking P3 in qualifying, the seven-time world champion will start the Spanish Grand Prix behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on the front row in Barcelona.
Russell will start in P4, meaning that the race will begin with an all-Mercedes second row.
That puts an end to Russell’s dominance over his teammates in qualifying, having out-performed Hamilton in eight of the last nine qualifying sessions.
Speaking to Sky Sports after qualifying, Russell said: “I think the gap to Lando and Max was probably a little bit bigger than we expected.
“I don’t think Lewis and I put the perfect lap together, we did good laps, but on a challenging track like this, you have to put the tyres in the right window and just find those last couple of tenths.
“That is what Lando managed to do today and we didn’t.”
News Summary:
- George Russell sends X-rated message after Lewis Hamilton mix-up in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying
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