Russell looks back on Silverstone start crash: 'A natural reaction'

For George Russell, his home race at Silverstone was over before it actually began. The Mercedes Briton was hit by Pierre Gasly, who in turn hit Guanyu Zhou. The Chinese driver flew upside down and slid across the track, while Russell came to a standstill at the first corner with a burst rear tyre.

The Mercedes driver jumped out of his car to help Zhou, but as a result, his race fell apart. At the press conference ahead of the Austrian GP, which was broadcast on Sky Sports. "It was a natural reaction [stopping on the track]. The race was red flagged, seeing an horrific incident. I thought my car was probably game over, but it wasn't."

According to Russell, it was extra bad luck on top of what happened at the start, as a good result was a possibility for Mercedes. This was evident with Lewis Hamilton eventually finishing third behind Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez. According to Russell, however, the problems are not solved now and there is still quite a bit of work to be done.

"I don't think we want to get carried away, Silverstone is unique with the speeds. We're going to another circuit here that is medium speed, we need to keep evaluating. Silverstone was a step in the right direction, but we'll go again this weekend and see how we get on."