Mercedes react to suggestion they could have prevented Hamilton-Russell tangle

Hamilton and Russell collided into Turn 1 at the Qatar GP earlier this month.

The contact forced Hamilton out of the race, while Russell dropped down to the back before recovering to finish fourth.

The seven-time world champion took “full responsibility” for the incident but there was some debate that Russell should have just backed off given his teammate was on the quicker tyre and thus was more likely to challenge Max Verstappen.

Speaking on the latest episode of the F1 Nation Podcast, Mercedes technical director Allison responded to a suggestion that Mercedes could have stopped the crash from happening.

“I think both drivers understood that they were on different tyres, understood that Lewis was likely to be more sparkly in the opening laps of the race, and I think George had acknowledged that neither of them should lose time if that were the case,” he said. 

“But both were also very keen to emphasise the fact that they shouldn’t have a coming together. Now I don’t think that was discussed in the specific context of, Turn 1 lap one, but just generally the opening laps would be where the soft would be at its best, so no point fighting when the strategies would bring that all back together in the race.”

Allison admitted that the post-race debrief was made easier by the fact that Hamilton was quick to acknowledge his misjudgement in Qatar.

“Everything got a huge amount more simple as soon as Lewis had watched the video, because he immediately put his hands up and just said ‘that was my fault, I’m very sorry’, he added. 

“Once someone just acknowledges a mistake and does so fulsomely, you can’t really bang on about it after that, because that is the problem solved. It’s a difficult job, starting cleanly, and mistakes happen. Thankfully, they happen very very seldom with this pair, in that way. 

“Was there a suggestion that George should have backed out because he knew Lewis was on the softs?”