Ted Kravitz questions Hamilton-Russell clash: “How avoidable was all of this?”

The Mercedes drivers made dramatic contact at Turn 1 of last weekend’s F1 Qatar Grand Prix, which ended Hamilton’s race early.

He later took responsibility for the incident, and the drivers parted ways on good terms.

Sky reporter Kravitz said from the paddock post-race: “The frustrating thing is, as well as being completely unnecessary - had they given each other a bit of room, it wouldn’t have happened - as well as being frustrating because the car had pace, as well as Mercedes believing they would have been quicker than McLaren, and it would have been a double podium, it wouldn’t have been Lando and Oscar, it would’ve been George and Lewis on the podium.

“As well as throwing away a double podium behind Max Verstappen, they had talked about the fact that Lewis was starting on the soft tyre, the quicker tyre, off the line and might be quicker than George into the first corner.

“They talked about it in the Mercedes briefing in the morning. How avoidable was all of this, I want to know?

“Bradley Lord said ‘we discussed it’. If you discussed it, maybe George would’ve thought ‘Lewis will be in, in a couple of laps’. It’s not George’s fault. 

“Or Lewis thinking: ‘I’m ahead of George, he knows I’m on the soft tyre, maybe I’ll make it extra, extra special safe, then take a wider line into Turn 1’.

“It adds to the frustration. Especially, as George and Lewis underlined, everyone has put in a real shift at Mercedes, putting in the late hours.”

Russell ultimately finished fourth behind Max Verstappen and the two McLarens.

Lord, the stand-in for Mercedes’ absent team principal Toto Wolff, reacted after the race: “We discussed it in the morning, it was a scenario that we’d been through.

“Obviously they had different start tyre performance. In the moment, they just ran out of space. George had nowhere to go, Lewis tried to take his line. 

“We saw what happened. Unfortunately these things can happen. You can’t programme everyone even with a discussion beforehand.”