Drain Cover Which Contacted George Rusell’s Car Was 10-15 mm From The Cockpit

George Russell starts the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from seventeenth on the grid. Meanwhile, things haven’t quite gone as expected for the English driver, who’s not only not driven before at Baku, but someone who’s going to enter only his fourth GP.

The Williams rookie, George Russell is also yet to open his account for the current season. And where it stands at this point in time, it doesn’t seem whether George Russell would finally score his first points at Baku.

At a track where it’s nearly impossible to overtake, but for the main straights, how does George Russell push up the order, one wonders?

And that said, it may not have been as bad for George Russell as it eventually turned out had the incident in the first free practice on Friday not had happened.

Isn’t it?

Thanks to an open drain cover, among the 300, according to a count conducted by Renault, George’s Williams would run over an unexpected miscreant. If there was ever an example of Formula 1 being at its negligent best then this was it.

That told, here’s something that may not exactly bring a smile to Russell at all? It has been reported that the drain cover that came to collide with the understated driver’s Williams was actually at such proximity to the Briton that labeling it scary won’t be inaccurate.

So what was it, actually?

Here’s what you ought to know. A leading F1 journal quoted George Russell on the unforgettable incident at Baku, that even brought a few words from the ever-laconic Finn, Kimi Raikkonen:

“I knew I hit something on the track but I didn’t realize it was a manhole cover,” Russell explained.

“It was already quite bumpy down the straight as it is. But like I said was quite a shock when I smashed it, really dangerous.

“If that was 10 or 15 millimeters higher it’s going straight into where I’m sat, so could have been much worse, but a shame for all the guys.”

The above told, the English driver’s team has been understandably miffed with those inspecting the safety measures and the entire paraphernalia at the track. After all, it’s not hard to understand why Williams were actually fuming with the Friday incident that damaged the chassis of the car and therefore, brought the session to be red-flagged.