George Russell was less than thrilled having become the latest victim of Romain Grosjean at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Briton made a pass on the Haas driver at Turn 7 before Romain tried to respond around the outside of Turn 8 but only succeeded in turning the Williams into the barrier.
A quip of “I shouldn’t be surprised” came from Russell over the radio and he was further bemused when Grosjean tried to blame him when they met post-race.
“He said I left him no room and that he was in the wall before he hit me and I just said, well, that’s absolutely not the case, because I had the last hour to be able to watch the video,” Russell said.
“It’s a shame that it just ruined my race and not his too. So that’s probably why he doesn’t feel like he was in the wrong. At the end of the day, if the exact same incident were to happen again, there is nothing I would do differently.”
Grosjean would continue, eventually finishing 11th, and gave his side of the story to reporters.
“We were side by side and then George went on throttle early, I was on the left so I didn’t have much room to go more to the left because obviously there’s a wall there,” he explained.
“I just need to see footage. What I think is that he had a moment mid-corner with his rear and touched my front, and then sent him the other way around.
“It’s bloody difficult to overtake in that [area of the] circuit and when you know there’s a car on entry phase next to you, you know it’s going to do the corner on the outside, so I’ve had the occasion with a few other guys and it’s gone okay.
“I need to see the footage, obviously George is not super happy, but I don’t think I had much more room to go any more on the left.”
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Russell’s response, he had already won the corner.
“Romain had his right to lunge it down the inside at the apex of the corner, we were side by side, but I had the inside momentum and come mid-exit phase I was well ahead, half a car’s length to three-quarters of it ahead of him,” he said.
“By that point, the guy on the inside has got the right to take the racing line, and it’s the guy on the outside’s job to concede the corner.
“And I don’t really know what he was trying to do, because even if he committed a bit more he still wouldn’t have been able to overtake.”