George Russell “aggressive” but he escapes punishment for Oscar Piastri incident

George Russell was criticised for being “aggressive” and “desperate” by Damon Hill despite being cleared of wrongdoing for his battle with Oscar Piastri at the F1 Japanese Grand Prix.

Russell attempted to overtake Piastri into Turn 16 with a smart dummy.

The pair had tyre-to-tyre contact in the middle of chicane, with Piastri cutting it to keep the position.

Russell would have to wait until the final lap to overtake the McLaren driver to secure seventh.

Both drivers were cleared by the stewards following a post-race investigation.

1996 F1 world champion Hill felt it was a "risky" move from Russell in the first place.

"I thought it was an aggressive move, and a risky one,” Hill said. “It required Oscar to take evasive action.

“A bit desperate from George.”

Giving his view on it, Russell said: “It was a late move, from my side. I was down the inside, made contact. I think there was enough room for us both to stay on the track. And he obviously continued.

“I would’ve been a little more upset if I finished the race behind him. In the end, nothing gained and nothing lost.”

Mercedes were the only team inside the top 10 to start on the hard tyre following the red flag period.

It didn’t quite work out as Mercedes abandoned their one-stop strategy for a two-stop.

Russell felt that starting on the hards “was the right decision”

“It was the right decision, starting on the hards,” he added. “Because it gave us the flexibility to do the one-stop or the two-stop. If you start on the medium after the red flag, you are committed to the two-stop.

It was a challenging first stint. I was behind Lewis, he was struggling a bit with the fronts. It would have been good to have been in the fight ahead. Because, after the first pit stop, we were in line with Lando and Charles ahead.”

It was yet another poor weekend from Mercedes, who came away with seventh and ninth.

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Russell remains confident the next races will suit the W15 better.

"When you look how close those three manufacturers are - with Oscar and Fernando within a couple of seconds - it’s extremely close between those four teams," he explained. "It will come down to qualifying. It was two tenths between P3 and P8 on the grid. It was the same in Bahrain.

"Whoever manages to qualify at the front of that pack will finish at the front of that pack. We know that we have work to do. None of us are content with fighting for second-best. China, and the tracks coming up, will suit us better than the last three."