Five worst moments of George Russell’s F1 career including Australian GP disaster and Singapore GP heartbreak

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George Russell has gone through some tough moments during his Formula 1 career, so F1 Oversteer has looked into some of his worst races including at the Australian Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Briton has largely had a successful Formula 1 career at Mercedes since making his debut with Williams in 2019. Russell managed to beat Hamilton in their head-to-head battle as teammates on two occasions at Mercedes.

But while he managed to end Mercedes’ win droughts with victories in 2022 and 2024, Russell has also had his fair share of disappointments on track. F1 Oversteer has taken a look at five worst moments from Russell’s career so far in F1 with Williams and Mercedes to date…

George Russell misses out on first points at 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after silly mistake

Russell was running in P10 midway through the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and was on course to score his first points in Formula 1 at Imola. However, he made a costly mistake behind the safety car.

The Briton lit up his rear tyres coming out of Turn 10 when he dropped the car and spun off into the barriers, damaging the whole right-hand side of his Williams.

He was forced to retire on the spot and with it threw away Russell’s best chance of scoring points for Williams, with him exclaiming over the team’s radio: “Don’t know what to say, guys.”

TV shots of him out of the car showed Russell visibly angry with himself, reminiscent of when Mika Haikkinen made a mistake during the 1999 Italian Grand Prix and threw away a race victory at Monza.

George Russell in highspeed crash with Valtteri Bottas at 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Russell would endure another difficult race at Imola in 2021, only this time he would come to blows with the driver he would go on to replace at Mercedes in Valtteri Bottas.

The pair were racing for position 32 laps into the race on a damp track when Russell attempted an overtake on the run down to Turn 2 with DRS. Bottas took to the inside line but Russell went off track onto the grass, causing him to spear into the side of the Mercedes.

It was a high-speed crash and cost Mercedes around £1 million to repair Bottas’ car, which put them close to the budget cap for the season. The red flag was brought out due to the sheer amount of debris on the track.

Russell was less than happy with Bottas and apportioned blame on the Finn post-race: “I pulled out and just as I pulled out Valtteri moved and put me offline and onto the wet stuff. Even on a perfectly dry track, it’s still dangerous.”

Zhou Guanyu flipped by George Russell at the start of 2022 British Grand Prix

The dramatic start to the 2022 British Grand Prix was caused by a chain reaction between Russell and Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa Romeo.

Russell moved across on Zhou and the pair collided, causing the Chinese driver to flip and spear across the track. His Alfa Romeo came to rest after mounting the barrier at Turn 1 and hitting the guardrail.

The Mercedes driver stopped on the track to get out and attend to Zhou, but in doing so his car was loaded onto a flatbed truck on the assumption he retired from the race.

When the race was red-flagged, Russell pleaded with the FIA to let him restart. But it was against the rules for outside assistance to make it back to the pits when the race had started.

George Russell crashes out of 2023 Singapore Grand Prix spectacularly

A mistake on the final lap of the Singapore GP in 2023 saw Russell’s chances of victory go up in smoke when he clipped the wall chasing down the leaders.

Russell got himself in a great position when he pitted for tyres and emerged in third place behind Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz with 18 laps to go. With those two on older tyres, Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton piled on the pressure, putting four drivers in contention for the win.

Norris clipped the wall at Turn 10, only for Russell to hit it even harder and break his front suspension. His Mercedes speared into the barriers, promoting Hamilton to the final podium spot and enabling Sainz to take the only non-Red Bull victory of the season.

George Russell’s penultimate lap blunder at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix

Russell got into another last-lap tangle when he was chasing down Fernando Alonso following his final pit stop during the 2024 Australian GP.

The Briton and Spaniard were battling for P6 when Russell got close to the Aston Martin through the Turn 6/7 complex, only for him to lose control of his Mercedes and hit the barriers.

His W15 ricocheted back onto the track, with Russell coming to rest on his left side as the right side was lifted up. Russell was unharmed in the incident, but it was later confirmed that Alonso was hit with a 20-second penalty for dangerous driving.