Russell 'unware' of Hamilton presence during Q2 near miss

George Russell says his hairy high-speed contact with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in Q2 in Barcelona was due to a miscommunication by his team.

Russell and Hamilton were both about to start flying laps towards the end of the second segment of qualifying when the former moved to the middle of the track to pick up a tow from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

But when Russell drifted back to the left as he barreled down towards Turn 1, he stepped right into the path of Hamilton's oncoming and faster moving car.

It was a hair-raising moment for the seven-time world who scrubbed tyres with his teammate's car and broke his front wing endplate as he took avoiding action and put two wheels on the grass.

"George just backed off, that was really dangerous," quipped Hamilton on the radio.

Both drivers were summoned to the stewards to review the incident and were given a formal warning.

Asked if the near-miss was due to a miscommunication, Russell said: "Yeah, pretty much. I wasn't even aware he was there."

"I was starting my lap, trying to take the slipstream from Sainz and fortunately, nothing bad happened."

• 2023 Spanish Grand Prix - Qualifying results

While Hamilton made the top-ten shootout and qualified P5, Russell was left stranded in Q2 after battling a car crucially lacking grip.

"I'm not too sure why straight out the box in run one I just had no grip from the tyres," Russell explained.

"I was really struggling, the car started to bounce a lot in the high-speed corners, so I couldn't take the [final] corner flat out when we were doing so this morning.

"A really, really odd session; not surprised to be out in Q2 because the car was just totally off the pace. I didn't have a good feeling with it. And yeah, disappointing for sure."

Russell said Mercedes had made a few changes after Saturday's the final practice session, but the Briton was at a loss to understand his car's behaviour.

"We did change some things but nothing that we would have expected to have such a substantial effect," he added.

"Maybe one thing I can think of that contributed towards the lack of performance, it was clearly tricky for everyone out there.

"There were cars struggling left right and centre but, we shouldn't be out in this position. It's a bit of a shame."

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