George Russell was left crestfallen as hopes for his first Formula 1 points were dashed by a crash behind the Safety Car at Imola.
The Williams driver was running P11 when Max Verstappen retired from third due to a tyre failure approaching the Villeneuve chicane, promoting him into the top 10.
However, as the pack bunched up, Russell repeated Romain Grosjean’s accident from Baku in 2018 as he lost the rear on the run towards Acque Minerali.
“I don’t really know what to say,” the Briton said. “I was working as hard as I could to keep the tyres working.
“I was pushing the tyres throughout the race. It’s probably the most on the limit I’ve ever been throughout the whole of the race.
“I think it was really showing and we were in such a good position but obviously I went over the limit.
“As soon as I lost the car it was already too late and I was in the wall. Really sorry for the team and unacceptable from my side.”
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Though temperatures weren’t too much of an issue on a mild November day in Italy, Russell explained his fear was losing out to those who pitted after the restart.
“I was accelerating, I was changing gear at the same time, just with cold tyres… this sometimes happens with cold tyres,” he said of the spin.
“It was my job to try and work them as hard as I can to try and keep Kimi [Raikkonen] and Sebastian [Vettel] behind me who are the new, hot fresh tyres.
“But no excuses. I’ll go away and learn from this and try to come back stronger next time.”
Williams remains the only team yet to score in 2020 and were left frustrated again as teammate Nicholas Latifi came home in 11th.
