George Russell was unable to end 2023 on a positive note when crashing in post-season testing.
George Russell suffered a crash during post-season testing following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Mercedes star has endured a difficult year and his collision was the icing on the cake for the Brit as he waves goodbye to 2023 in underwhelming fashion.
After securing an eighth-place finish in the Drivers’ Championship over the weekend, Russell was given the opportunity to lay the foundations for a successful start to 2024 with a one-day Pirelli tyre test.
But Russell raised a red flag during the morning session at the Yas Marina Circuit, forcing Mercedes to postpone their last few hours of racing. At turn six, the 25-year-old lost control of his W14 and collided with the barriers. Subsequently, it has been revealed that a malfunctioning component caused the incident.
Russell was not hurt in the collision, but his car’s front right corner was severely damaged. It returned to the garage without its front wing, and there were visible marks where it had collided with the barriers.
Prior to the winter break, a Mercedes representative informed Crash.net that a thorough investigation would be conducted into the incident, which was the result of “some sort of failure.”
Russell, who recently acknowledged that this season has been the worst of his career, will be hoping that some time off will help him gather his thoughts and get back on track in 2024. “Every race [has problems], whether it’s me running into a wall [in Singapore], the rain falling in Zandvoort on the wrong lap, or the engine breaking down in Melbourne,” he said to Sky Sports.
“However, if it occurs once or twice, you can attribute it to bad luck. It’s definitely not luck when it occurs nine, ten, or eleven times in a year. In the end, the car isn’t fast enough. We must continue to advance. With the intense competition, even a minor error can cause you to drop several spots.
It will be interesting to see how the Mercedes team responds after Russell’s teammate Lewis Hamilton recently made public remarks about the need for changes before the upcoming season.
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