Each Mercedes drivers made a late pitstop for medium Pirelli tyres as they sought to challenge eventual race winner Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris on their getting old hards.
However as Russell sat on the rear of the second-placed McLaren on the 62nd and remaining lap, Norris clipped the outside wall heading into Flip 10.
The chasing Russell did comparable, solely he made a lot heavier contact to break his W14 after which spear head-first into the boundaries.
That dramatic shunt promoted team-mate Lewis Hamilton to 3rd whereas Russell, who began second and may need challenged for victory, was labeled in sixteenth place.
“Within the second, you simply need to curl up in a ball and be with no one,” mentioned Russell. “It’s the most horrendous feeling on the earth if you find yourself so bodily drained, mentally drained.
“We missed out on a chance for victory after which to make such a mistake, it’s actually heart-breaking.”
Regardless of the key error, Russell reckoned that upon reflection, he was now delivering the most effective performances of his F1 profession.
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG
Photograph by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
He continued: “I’ve to be sincere now, and I am standing right here an hour later, it has been such a tremendous weekend. I really consider that I am driving higher than I’ve ever pushed.
“I felt assured and comfy and I am not going to let a mistake of two centimetres knock me down. I’ll have a tricky evening and a tricky morning however I’ll then simply put it behind me and go once more.
“I can solely apologise to the crew as a result of they deserved extra however shit occurs.”
Russell added that his mistake might be put right down to an absence of focus, with the Briton having been knocked out of his groove after realising the win had escaped him.
“It was such a nothing of a mistake,” he mentioned. “If I spun off and had a lock-up, it might have been very completely different however I clipped the wall on the final lap.
“It’s such a pathetic mistake and that’s the reason it feels so unusual proper now.
“It’s most likely that lack of focus… It was the final lap and I knew that chance was gone.
“It goes to indicate that you should keep on it. It does not matter what the situation is.”