Russell's Move Called 'Aggressive' And 'Desperate' By F1 Champion

Wednesday, 10 April 2024 at 01:45

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Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill reacted to George Russell's controversial move on Oscar Piastri that he made during the fourth round of the 2024 season in Japan.

George Russell started the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix from P9, and despite the bad race strategy, he managed to recover quite a lot of lap time during his second stint.

The Briton first overtook his own teammate Lewis Hamilton, and at the end of the race, he caught up with Oscar Piastri, who was within one second of Fernando Alonso.

The problem for the Mercedes driver was that the clever Alonso in front knew what was happening and intentionally kept the 23-year-old within DRS range.

This was the exact same strategy that Carlos Sainz, in collaboration with Lando Norris, used against Russell during the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, so he recognized it instantly and knew he had to surprise the Australian with some move.

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On lap 49 (out of 55), the 26-year-old got within 0.25 seconds of Piastri ahead of the final corner and pulled off a beautiful dive down the inside.

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The only problem was that his car bounced off the curb and touched the Asutralian's McLaren, which gave the 23-year-old a reason to cut the corner as he wanted to avoid a greater collision.

Russell was noted for dangerous driving to be investigated after the session. Even though the final conclusion was there wouldn't be any further action, which means Russell didn't do anything wrong, Damon Hill called his move aggressive and desperate. He told Sky F1:

"I thought that was a little bit of an aggressive move actually. Quite a risky one, required Oscar to take evasive action. So a bit desperate from George.”

Mercedes's team principal believed there was nothing wrong with the 26-year-old's move and suggested that even to investigate it was "crazy" and "ridiculous." What did you think about it?