GEORGE’S DRIVING GIVEN HAMMERING
LEWIS HAMILTON turned on Mercedes team-mate George Russell for a “really dangerous” move as the British pair collided – and then watched Max Verstappen race to pole position for today’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton will start fifth following a bizarre coming together with fellow Brit Russell, who lines up in 12th, at the end of Q2 at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.
With both Silver Arrows men starting their hot laps, Hamilton moved out of Russell’s tow at 210mph on the main straight.
But the seven-time world champion was forced to take to the grass after Russell, who was making his way past Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, unintentionally closed the door on him down the pit straight.
Hamilton kicked up dirt from the grass as part of the front wing was ripped off his Mercedes.
“George just backed off,” said Hamilton over the radio.
“That is really dangerous. I might have some damage on the car.”
Although Hamilton’s time was good enough to progress to Q3, Russell was eliminated in 12th.
On the collision, Russell said: “Just a massive miscommunication. I was looking ahead trying to get the slipstream from Carlos, and next thing Lewis was there.
“I wasn’t even aware he was there. It’s fortunate that nothing bad happened. So, we need to talk internally how that happened because with two team-mates, that should never happen.
“It wasn’t either one’s fault – Lewis probably just didn’t know I was starting a lap too.” In a qualifying full of incident and drama, Russell will start one place behind Sergio Perez after the Red Bull driver also failed to make it out of Q2. Last weekend, Perez crashed in qualifying for Monaco and had to start from the back.
The Mexican is Verstappen’s closest challenger in the championship – but a week on from his horror show in Monaco, where he finished 16th and two laps down, he could only qualify 11th here.
Perez ran through the gravel and, although he managed to keep his Red Bull out of the wall, his next lap was not quick enough to carry him through to Q3 as Verstappen (left) shone again.
Championship leader Verstappen said: “I have a lot of great memories here and hopefully we can add another one.
“The car has been really nice since the beginning of the weekend and I have only made small adjustments. “It has just been really enjoyable to drive and when you have that you can really push it to the limit.”
On an afternoon of shock results, Charles Leclerc, who started this race from pole position last year, lines up last but one.
Leclerc complained about problems with the rear of his Ferrari and finished above only Williams rookie Logan Sargeant in the grid order.