Verstappen and Hamilton react to Russell's Sprint crash: 'He went sideways a few times'
Photo: Race Pictures
Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
Max Verstappen has said George Russell went sideways "a few times" in the lead up to his opening lap crash at the Singapore GP Sprint, with the Briton sliding on the exit of Turn 19 and out of the race as Verstappen secured victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
As Russell himself explained, the Mercedes driver had more electrical power than he anticipated on corner exit, and broke "the number one rule in the rain" by crossing the white line and spinning off. "It’s a very silly mistake – overly confident. I think it’s my first crash of the year. It’s annoying to happen from that position," he said.
The first to pass Russell as he spun down the main straight was Verstappen, the Sprint pole sitter who the Briton had got ahead of off the line.
Speaking after his Sprint win to, Verstappen reflected on the crash, telling media, including GPblog: "I mean, he was sideways already a few times in that first lap, so I think he was just pushing quite hard on the first lap already. And then in the last corner, he clipped the white line. And then, of course, it did send him left into the wall.
"Easy mistake to to make, I guess. Unlucky at the same time. But, yeah, as soon as I saw him go, probably I was in the nicest position compared to the cars behind because the spray is sometimes really hard to see what's what's going on."
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Hamilton and Leclerc react to Russell crash
Next up was Hamilton on his way to an eventual P2 finish, with the seven-time world champion avoiding a penalty for an alleged infringement under the resulting yellow flag.
Sharing his view of the crash, Hamilton said: "I thought the grip was... It was like the highest grip, I would say, for the wet, for inter, you know.
"It's just a lot of tracks where it's a lot less grip, but I mean, of course, if you touch the kerb or touch the white lines, it could be quite sketchy. I think the last last corner, definitely, I had a couple of snaps there, so it's so easy to do, and it wasn't in my way."
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Hamilton's Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc then followed, with the Monegasque having a trickier time of it due to Russell's crash and low visibility. He explained: "It was a bit more sketchy for me because George started to then reverse in the middle of the straight, but then stopped.
"And with the visibility as well as with the half SM open, I mean, we we have the front SM in that in that part of the track is always quite tricky, but, yeah, everything was fine. Just the visibility was quite poor, particularly on this part of the of the track."
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