Jenson Button blasts George Russell for making the ‘wrong call’ after Canadian GP gamble | F1 | Sport
Jenson Button has claimed George Russell’s decision to gamble on the soft tyres at the end of Q3 was the “wrong call” as he disagreed with the former Williams man’s brave move.
Speaking on Sky Sports F1, he said: “I don’t think it was confidence, I think it was the wrong call.” Russell looked to have the pace to beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton throughout qualifying but took a late gamble for slicks on a drying track.
However, his decision backfired with the former Williams man losing control and spinning out at turn two on his flying lap. He knocked his rear wing on the barrier, damaging the car and stopping him from trying a second run.
It means Russell will only start eighth for tomorrow’s race, putting his record of finishing inside the top-five at every race under threat. After the session, Russell apologised to his team over the radio, saying he wanted to go for it and not “settle for P4, P5, P6”.
Team principal Toto Wolf appeared to back his decision and try to motivate Russell for tomorrow’s race, responding to his message: “George, strong call. Tomorrow”. After qualifying, Russell said: “High risk, high reward, I think it was literally just turn one. Had that been as dry as other corners we could have been in a really good place.
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“So I was thinking about that in the back of my mind. But we’ve had worse qualifying this year in normal circumstances. P4, P3 would have been nice, I definitely had the pace to do that.”
Hamilton will start the race from fourth after putting together a lap together in the dying stages. It looked as if Hamilton’s run was good enough for the front row before he was pipped at the end by Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.
