George Russell is prepared to face the consequences of his own actions following his Austin crash.
George Russell has rejected what he described as a “kind offer” from Lewis Hamilton to swap F1 upgrades after his United States GP qualifying crash.
Russell crashed at Turn 19 on the final runs in Q3 to bring an early end to the session, and hand Lando Norris pole, with the upgrades added to his W15 destroyed in the heavy impact, especially on the front-right.
Notionally, Russell was sixth-fastest with Hamilton 19th after a shock Q1 exit, with the seven-time champion offering to swap his undamaged parts for Russell’s wrecked ones.
But Russell is prepared to face the consequences of his own actions, with a pit-lane start expected for Hamilton.
“Right now, the concern is about the bits,” Russell told media including RacingNews365.
“We will have to revert on the upgrades, and Lewis has kindly offered his ones, but we are not going to swap.
“So I don’t know what is going to be happening, but that is the biggest concern and we don’t have the answers.
“We keep finding ourselves in this position and how the car is interacting with the tyres, the temperature, to small changes in the wind, but it has been the story of the season.
“With old upgrades or new upgrades, either we are there or we’re half a second, six-tenths off.
“All season, when the car has been in the sweet spot, fighting for poles and wins – like [in sprint qualifying], we were both fighting for pole, and in qualifying, we were both almost out in Q1.
“I really pushed on that last lap, ultimately trying to find performance that wasn’t there and paid the price.
“I am just disappointed with myself, because everyone has worked so hard to bring the upgrades, and that’s in the bin.”
