George Russell asked Valtteri Bottas if he was “trying to kill us both” following the drivers’ high-speed crash at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday.
Mercedes driver Bottas said the fault was with Russell, however, for the collision that led to a 23-minute red flag stoppage on a wet track at Imola.
Russell was attempting to pass Bottas on the outside of a long straight but lost control of his car. The Williams driver said he was pushed wide into the grass by Bottas, who responded by saying there was not enough space on the track for the overtake.
After the crash, before drivers were unharmed and able to emerge from their cars, before Russell appeared to slap the top of Bottas’ helmet, who stuck his middle finger up at the 23-year-old in response.
Russell had said over his team radio, “What the f*** was he doing? Honestly. Is he a f***ing p***k or what?” and speaking after the race, the Brit disclosed what was said between the drivers following the incident.
“I asked him if he was trying to kill us both,” Russell said.
“We’re going incredibly fast, we know the conditions. In his eyes he’s not really fighting for anything, a P9 for him is nothing, but for us [Williams] it’s everything.
“I’m going for absolutely everything, the move would have been absolutely easy.
“There was absolutely no reason to jolt like that. It’s a gentleman’s agreement between the drivers because we’ve always said it will cause a massive collision one day and here we are.”
Bottas responded: “I’ve seen the replay, there was definitely space for two cars all the time. I don’t know what he was [talking] about, trying to say something.”
“It was completely his fault, quite disappointing.”
Max Verstappen secured a comfortable victory following the stoppage, while Lewis Hamilton recovered from his earlier spin once the race resumed, climbing from 9th to 2nd to maintain his lead in the driver’s championship
Stewards confirmed after the race that they would not be taking action over the Bottas-Russell crash.
