‘No confusion or rules' over how Russell should race Mercedes F1 drivers - Wolff

Reflecting on the fallout of his massive race-ending collision with Valtteri Bottas at Imola, Williams driver Russell said he considers Lewis Hamilton and Bottas to be his teammates as much as Nicholas Latifi is.

Russell apologised to Bottas for his emotional remonstration towards the Finn in the direct aftermath of the incident, as well as his suggestion that Bottas would have raced him differently had he been another driver not in contention for a Mercedes seat in 2022.

The Briton also claimed his relationship with Wolff had “not been damaged at all” - but rather strengthened - following talks held between the pair.

Speaking on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix, Wolff confirmed there is a clear understanding between the drivers following separate discussions.

“I think I want most of [the conversations] to stay confidential because I had discussions with both of the drivers,” Wolff said.

“Drivers have to go for a gap, and sometimes it's evaluating whether it's taking a risk or not. I guess that a young driver will always go for the possibility and nothing else is expected.

“Then the question is, is there enough reaction time to take to evaluate who is the other car? I think not. So in a way, there is never 100% blame on one and zero on the other one. It's probably always much more nuanced and I'm really happy about the conversation we had.

“There is no confusion on any side, and there are no rules for any of the drivers. It was just us giving feedback.”

While Bottas said he was yet to speak to Russell directly since their coming together, he said he considered the crash to be “done and dusted” and “history”.