Hamilton began third behind Russell and Pink Bull’s polesitter Max Verstappen and on his tender tyres he made a greater getaway than the front-row starters on mediums.
That preliminary grip benefit gave Hamilton the boldness and momentum to attempt to move each vehicles across the outdoors of Flip 1, however he then turned in too early, leaving Russell with no room to keep away from a collision.
Hamilton retired on the spot as he misplaced a wheel and tumbled into the gravel entice, whereas a livid Russell was pressured to pit with what gave the impression to be a broken front-left wheel.
Initially Hamilton stated on the workforce radio he was “taken out by my team-mate” however he quickly rectified that after he had seen the replays.
“I’ve watched the replay, and it was 100% my fault and I take full accountability. Apologies to my workforce and to George,” Hamilton stated on X (previously Twitter).
Talking to Sky Sports activities F1 he defined his preliminary feedback: “I simply really feel actually sorry to the workforce, it was a possibility right now to get some good factors.
“It is within the warmth of the second, I imply, I did not actually perceive what occurred. I simply clearly felt the faucet from behind, however I do not assume George most likely had anyplace to go.
“It is simply a kind of actually unlucky conditions, I am completely satisfied to take accountability.
“Everybody’s working extremely onerous, so it is like massively gutting to have a consequence like this.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG, walks again after retiring from the race
Photograph by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Russell managed to battle his method again to fourth and stated there have been no onerous emotions after his conflict with Hamilton.
“After all, I used to be pissed off as a result of it was only a massive, missed alternative for each of us. We have one purpose and that is to complete P2 within the constructors’ championship,” Russell stated.
“We had a whole lot of discussions this morning about how we will work collectively. The battle wasn’t with one another. The battle’s with Ferrari.
“Luckily, we nonetheless got here up with extra factors from them this weekend.
“However Lewis and I we’ll be high-quality. We have an enormous respect for one another; nothing was intentional from both aspect.”
Further reporting by Matt Kew