Russell admits Montreal bust 'difficult pill to swallow'

George Russell was anything but pleased with himself after an early crash in the Canadian Grand Prix squandered his hopes of a top-four finish.

Russell was running fourth in the wake of Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin in the opening stages of the race when a clumsy run over the kerb at Turn 8 unsettled his Mercedes which then darted into the wall on the exit.

"I went a bit wide into Turn 8, knew I was going to hit the kerb but I wasn't expecting the sausage kerb to have such a violent response and the next thing, I am in the air and lost the rear when I landed, then in the wall," he explained.

"It all happened really quite suddenly."

Although the Briton's W14 appeared to have suffered significant rear-right and front wing damage, Russell was able to nurse his car back to its base under the Safety Car.

After a quick rear suspension check-up, Mercedes' crews fitted a new front wing and bolted on a new right-rear wheel before they promptly sent Russell back out.

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Amazingly, he was able to haul himself back into the points and up to P8 when his team opted to retire his car with a front brake wear issue, 17 laps from the checkered flag.

"Sorry to the team, for sure there was P3 and P4 in the car for us both but positives to take away that the car was reasonably competitive," he added.

Russell admitted that he was surprised that he was able to continue after his crash given the magnitude of the impact.

"I was surprised I was able to continue, I was very close to pulling up but I learned from my Silverstone experience [when he prematurely exited his cockpit last year and was forced to retire] not to stop to early.

"For sure, it is a difficult pill to swallow, but that's how sport should be, once you make a mistake, you should be punished for it."

While his mishap likely deprived him of a top-four finish, Russell felt that a couple of points were still on offer after his crash.

"It didn't feel perfect but it was absolutely good enough to drive," he said. "The rear tow was probably a little bit out.

"We could have probably finished P8 but we were in a lot of traffic. The pre-race predictions, we weren't expecting to be in that position, hence why we probably got the brakes in the wrong place."

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