George Russell accepted blame for his retirement from the sprint race in Singapore.
The Mercedes driver spun into the pit wall barrier in wet conditions at the start of the second lap of the race.He started from second place and immediately took the lead from pole-winner Max Verstappen at the start. However Russell admitted he ran too wide as he completed the second lap.
“I just misjudged it, to be honest,” he said. “I came around the corner, I came on the throttle, I got more power than I was expecting from the battery. I went a little bit wide and then I touched the white line.
“The number one rule in the rain is don’t touch the white lines. It’s a very, very silly mistake. Overly confident.
“I think it’s my first crash of the year. It was annoying to happen from that position.”
The crash leaves Mercedes needing to repair Russell’s car in time for the start of qualifying. The session has been delayed by half an hour due to the late finish of the sprint race, which started late due to heavy rain.
However regardless of Russell’s performance in qualifying he is due to start at the back of the grid due to a penalty for changing his power unit.
The start of qualifying has been delayed to 9:30pm local time
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