Russell on asking for a red flag after his crash: 'Has to be solved'

After George Russell crashed through an incident with Fernando Alonso, it took several seconds for action to be taken. This is too long according to Russell. There needs to be a new technology that can speed up this process.

A so-called 'brake-test' by Fernando Alonso caused George Russell to lose his Mercedes and crash in Turn 6 in Australia. This caused him to land sideways on his side in the middle of the track. This is an incredibly dangerous situation to be in, Russell told Japan. "I mean, it was an incredibly uncomfortable position to be in your, on a blind bend, 250 km/h, right on the racing line with the car half upside down, waiting for disaster to happen."

There needs to be a solution to delayed safety cars

On the board radio, we heard Russell panickedly calling for a red flag. This did not come, but he was spared an accident. "Fortunately, I had a ten-second gap behind me, and I think it was ten or 12 seconds before the [virtual] safety car came out. But in the space of 10 seconds, you can have five, six, seven cars," continued the Briton.

Had this happened on the first lap of the race, things might have ended differently. The Mercedes driver believes another solution to this needs to be found. "I think we need to find a way that if a car is in a danger zone, it's automated VSC straight away, within half a second or so, because those seconds count and lives are at risk. I think it's time with the technology that we have to make steps in this area," Russell said.