Hamilton insists Russell relationship "isn’t broken" after Qatar collision

Hamilton was at fault for their collision into the first corner of the opening lap in Qatar.

The contact forced Hamilton out of the race - his first DNF of the year - and Russell dropped to the back of the field.

Russell ultimately recovered to finish fourth, suggesting it was a missed opportunity for Mercedes given his impressive race pace.

Speaking after the race to Sky Italia, Hamilton explained why his relationship with Russell will be unaffected by the incident.

"I think we are a great team. George and I still have a great relationship. We will discuss things and work away," Hamilton said.

"I'm happy to take responsibility as the older guy. I don't think George had anywhere to go at that point.

"I was trying to get ahead of both of them and just an unfortunate situation. I had the worst tyre of everyone around me, so I needed to try and get ahead. Big risk, big penalty."

"The relationship isn't broken. I don't have any problems with George, we have a great relationship, we work and we always talk about things.

"So this is definitely unfortunate and I'm sure he was frustrated in the moment like I was. But we will talk about it offline and we move forwards. As I said, just apologies to all of the team."