George Russell was infuriated by Alex Albon during the Monaco Grand Prix with Williams employing a strategy which prevented Mercedes from rising into the points positions
Alex Albon and George Russell have buried the hatched after their Monaco Grand Prix clash. The two close friends went for dinner after a bad-tempered race which saw Mercedes racer Russell lose his cool over Albon’s “erratic” driving.
The British-Thai driver’s Williams team had made the most of the tight Monte Carlo streets to help both their drivers pit without losing track position. That involved them taking it in turns to back up those behind them so that there would be enough room for their team-mate to swap tyres.
And because modern Formula 1 cars are so wide, overtaking is virtually impossible even when the driver ahead is moving slowly. That infuriated Russell who could do nothing to get by Albon legally, blocking the Brit from rising into the points-paying positions.
The Mercedes drivers lost his composure and cut the Nouvelle Chicane to get past. And when he was told by his race engineer Marcus Dudley to give the place back to Albon, Russell refused and said he would rather take the penalty – which duly came and saw him lose 20 seconds with a drive through the pit lane.
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But the two are friends and they made it clear that it will not affect that relationship. On Sunday night, they went out for dinner together and Albon picked up the bill to say sorry, before posting a photo of them together in the restaurant on social media.
That was after Albon had already admitted his shame over how Williams had secured their double points finish. He said: “[That was] not how we want to go racing, Carlos [Sainz] and I. I know we put on a bad show for everyone, and that we made a few drivers behind us angry in the process as well.
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“It was just taking advantage of the track, the size of the cars, and that’s it, really. The two-stop just made us do it twice, rather than once. Apologies to everyone who watched that, it wasn’t very good.
“Being honest, we didn’t want to do it and we never planned to do it. We knew on Thursday that this was going to be a thing and, when the RBs started it… if they hadn’t started it, we would never have done it. But the way they bottled everyone up, we then had to do the same thing for ourselves. Sorry!”
That cordial relationship between Albon and Russell was reflected in the one between their bosses. Williams chief James Vowles was a deputy to Toto Wolff at Mercedes for many years and the Austrian revealed how his former colleague had texted him during the race to apologise for their tactics.
“I’m sorry. We had no choice given what happened ahead,” said Wolff, reading Vowles’ message aloud for reporters. “I answered, ‘We know’. He had to do it, you know – it’s two cars in the points, and I think that what started it [all] was the RBs [Racing Bulls] that pegged us back off, and that’s what he had to do.”
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