Russell explains ‘annoying’ FP2 crash in Singapore as he apologises to Mercedes for lost track time

George Russell has apologised to Mercedes after crashing out of second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, having lost some track time and left his mechanics with more work to do overnight.

Russell visited the Turn 16 barriers around a third of the way into Friday’s FP2 session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, ripping off his front wing and triggering the red flags to allow marshals to clear the track.

While most other drivers ended the night-time running with some 20 laps under their belts, Russell could take no further part and was limited to just six tours, putting him on the back foot for Saturday’s action.

“It was a bit of a weird one, to be honest,” Russell said of the incident afterwards. “I’m not too sure what happened. I braked a bit earlier, went in a little bit slower, then just lost the rear.

“Thankfully I sort of went in front-end on and didn’t do too much damage. Obviously game over, so it’s a bit annoying. I’m sorry to the team for that, but better today than tomorrow.”

As for how the rest of his day unfolded, the Briton reflected: “FP1 was challenging. In those early laps [of FP2] I had a much better feel with the car, to be honest. The pace seemed better.

“We didn’t complete any [proper] laps, so there was no sort of real lap time on the board, but at least the laps, if you took the sectors together, felt better.

“As I said, it’s not been our best Friday by a long way. At Singapore, the track’s always evolving, there’s a bit of rain in the air, so I’m not too concerned.”

On the other side of the Mercedes garage, Kimi Antonelli completed the session – via another red flag caused by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson crashing out – but wound up only 18th, having experienced a compromised run on the soft tyres.

“To be honest, to me it didn’t look as bad,” he said, when asked about what appeared to be a particularly tough day. “The result definitely didn’t show what we could have achieved.

“On the soft I had to abort the lap, but we were on for a pretty good lap. To be honest, I felt pretty good in the car. We’re trying to find the best set-up. There’s still quite a little bit to improve, but as well with my driving I’m trying to evolve lap by lap.

“Hopefully tomorrow I can improve myself, hopefully we can improve the car a little bit as well, and then we can put on a fight.”