Hamilton shoulders blame for Turn 1 clash with Russell in Qatar

Lewis Hamilton took the blame for a collision with George Russell at the start of the Qatar Grand Prix and insists their relationship “isn’t broken.”

The two Mercedes drivers came together on the entry to Turn 1 at the start of the race, with Hamilton on soft tires attempting to go round the outside of both Russell and Max Verstappen but squeezing his teammate slightly and catching Russell’s left front wheel with his right rear.

Hamilton’s wheel detached in the contact and he retired, with Russell spinning and getting damage that limited him to fourth in the race. After each driver blamed the other at the time, Hamilton took the blame after seeing replays.

“I’ve watched the replay and it was 100 percent my fault and I take full responsibility,” he wrote on social media. “Apologies to my team and to George.”

With the pair having come close to incidents in Japan too, before viewing the replays Hamilton insisted the pair were on good terms and would not have any issues as a result of the contact.

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“The relationship isn't broken,” Hamilton said. “I don't have any problems with George. We have a great relationship and we always talk about things. This is definitely unfortunate and I'm sure he was frustrated in the moment, like I was. But we'll talk about it offline and we'll move forwards. Just apologies to all the team.

“It's frustrating, whoever you touch with, but it's frustrating when both of us spun out and ultimately went down the order.

“I had the soft tire and everyone around me had the medium tire. I needed to get by. I tried going around the outside of Max but just didn't work out.

“I think in the heat in the moment I felt... it was obviously frustrating because I felt this tap from the rear end. But I don't think George had anywhere to go. I think it was just an unfortunate scenario. I'm happy to take responsibility as that's my role. I need to go back and look at it but I don't feel it was George's fault.”