Bottas has not spoken to Russell about Imola F1 incident

Valtteri Bottas says he has not yet spoken with George Russell since their Formula 1 crash at Imola but insists he has moved on from the incident.
The damaged Mercedes AMG F1 W12 of Valtteri Bottas (FIN) and George Russell (GBR) Williams Racing FW43B, who crashed out of the race.
The damaged Mercedes AMG F1 W12 of Valtteri Bottas (FIN) and George…
© xpbimages.com

The Mercedes and Williams drivers came together in a high-speed collision while fighting over ninth place in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with both quick to blame each other for the collision.

Having later softened his stance after viewing more footage of the crash, Russell issued a public apology to Bottas for his actions on the Monday after the race. 

Russell also revealed he planned to phone Bottas for ‘clear the air’ talks but according to the Finn that has not happened, though he considers the incident to be “done and dusted”.

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Bottas has not spoken to Russell about Imola F1 incident

When asked if he had spoken to Russell about the incident, Bottas replied: “I heard about his post and apology and I read it.

“But to be honest, we haven’t spoken after the race, after the stewards. I did have a missed call on Monday morning, but I was still sleeping.

“We haven’t spoken, but I’m sure it’s the same for George, it’s done and dusted. It’s history, and there was no decision by the stewards. George apologised and now it’s time to move on.”

Like Russell, Bottas has discussed the incident with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who stressed: “the whole situation should have never happened”.

“We had a chat after, just to go through the situation which is normal,” Bottas explained.

“But apart from that, we agreed [to just] take the positives and learn from the negatives and move on. Kind of one to forget really.

“One positive for sure is that it was only race two of the season and there are 21 to go.”

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