Russell vows Singapore error "won’t happen when fighting for a championship"

Russell crashed out on the final lap of the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit while running in third-place.

The British driver looked on course to win the race thanks to a ballsy strategy from Mercedes to pit under the Virtual Safety Car for fresh rubber.

Russell was unable to pass the McLaren of Lando Norris - who was in between him and race leader Carlos Sainz.

On Lap 62, Russell brushed the wall on the entry of Turn 10 before clattering in the wall.

Russell admitted he was “heartbroken” after the race - but teammate Lewis Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff were quick to voice their support.

Speaking in Japan, Russell vowed not to repeat his Singapore error in the future.

“Disappointing to end in that way,” he told Sky. “I got to be honest, it's history now. I am here to fight for victories, I am here to fight for championships. 

“We want to go all in for a victory and make sure that we secure second place. I can tell you it won’t happen when we’re fighting for a championship.”

Russell revealed that Mercedes’ trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin called him after the race to support him.

“On Sunday night Shov [Shovlin] gave me a phone call and basically said ‘look don’t worry about it, the only reason we were there and had a chance of victory was because of the amazing job we did the whole weekend,” he added. 

“The qualifying performance and the pace we showed’ so that gave me a lot of piece of mind. I knew that myself to be honest. I knew that myself and I take pride in that. We went all in for the victory. 

“We’re pushing ourselves above and beyond every single lap, we’re going against the best drivers in the world and on a circuit like that you’ve only got to make the mistake by a couple of centimetres and you’re off. Clearly got distracted or either lost concentration. I saw Lando touch the wall and I think I’ve clearly followed him and done it even more.”