Embarrassing scenes in Baku as British rookie Russell is KO’d by a ..then recovery crane crashes into a

MANHOLE COVER BRIDGE

GEORGE RUSSELL likened his bizarre, high-speed crash to “like a deer running out in front of him”, as farcical scenes marred practice in Azerbaijan.

Russell, preparing for just his fourth grand prix, was fortunate to escape unharmed following yesterday’s incident that raises question marks over Formula 1’s safety in Baku.

The opening practice session was barely 10 minutes old when the rookie Williams driver ran over a dislodged drain cover at 180mph and sustained significant damage to his car.

The Brit (right) was left baffled by the incident, having only just begun his first timed lap of the morning, and was left covered in fire extinguisher fluid – and with a sore backside.

“It was like when a deer runs out in front of you,” said Russell.

“You’re not expecting it. The force of the impact set off the fire extinguisher, which filled up my cockpit. It was so cold on my bottom, it felt like it was burning.”

The 21-year-old immediately pulled over to the side of the road to examine his wrecked car.

The session was red-flagged so officials could remove the debris from the track and ensure the mishap was not going to cause further carnage.

Bizarrely, a marshall attempted to stamp the drain cover down before the running was abandoned altogether, so F1 chiefs could check the other 300 drains around the rest of the track.

Five-time world champ Lewis Hamilton joked: “How could they have not checked and sealed the drains? Oh well, just gives me extra time to catch up on Game Of Thrones.” Things got even more embarrassing for Baku organisers when the recovery crane, carrying Russell’s car back to the pits, collided with a pedestrian bridge running over the circuit.

Oil from the crane was then seen leaking onto the Williams car to compound the misery for the British team. And the extensive damage sustained to his car meant Russell was unable to take part in yesterday’s second session, which was dominated by Ferrari. Charles Leclerc continues to impress in his debut season and he stamped his authority by topping the timesheet 0.324 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton, who heads into today’s qualifying top of the title standings, having secured back-to-back victories, was third.