Russell defends Hamilton: F1 move on Verstappen wasn’t “malicious”

The fallout from Silverstone continues following F1’s two title contenders tangle on the opening lap into Copse corner.

Verstappen has reiterated his opinion that Hamilton should have been handed a harsher penalty than 10 seconds.

On the other hand, Hamilton has defended Mercedes’ celebrations after the race after Verstappen and Red Bull criticised their actions for being “disrespectful”.

Giving his opinion ahead of this weekend’s grand prix at the Hungaroring, Russell felt neither driver was to blame for the crash at Silverstone.

“Well firstly my view is that it was absolutely a racing incident and there are no rules in that aspect I’d say that can say who is right or who is wrong because it’s just one of those things and sometimes there is no right or wrong it’s just a racing incident,” Russell said.

“For example, Lewis is one of the cleanest and fairest racers out there always and there was nothing malicious in the attempt because there was a clear opportunity. Obviously, the consequences were huge and I am very glad to see Max was relatively fine following the crash.”

Russell is a director for the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) and after the drama of Silverstone, there have been some calls for the FIA to clarify the rules when racing another car.

While the Williams driver concedes it is difficult to judge incidents in F1, he says nothing more needs to be clarified.

“These racing incidents are a difficult one to adjudicate on,” Russell added. “I don’t think there needs to be anything any clearer in that specific scenario because for me it was just purely a racing incident.”