P1racenews AI automatic summary:
‘We had discussed it’ – Wolff stand-in reacts to Hamilton-Russell crash
Hamilton retired from the race after a crash with Russell on the first corner, leaving Hamilton stranded in the gravel and Russell at the back of the field. Russell made an impressive recovery to finish fourth, but Hamilton had to retire on lap one. Hamilton later took full responsibility for the incident in a tweet. Mercedes communications director Bradley Lord acknowledged that it was a disastrous start for the team, but praised Russell’s recovery drive. Lord also mentioned that Mercedes had discussed the scenario of Hamilton making a better start than Russell in a pre-race team meeting, but unfortunately, they ran out of space and the collision happened.
Source: Crash
