George Russell’s form at in the lead up to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix showed that there was every chance an elusive Drivers’ World Championship point in F1 would come his way. As is well documented by now, following a crash in the race during a safety car period, Russell’s final position at the Grand Prix was a DNF. Television pictures showed how devasted the young Brit was. Now, today, it has been revealed that George Russell also wrote a letter of apology to his team.

An article on racefans.net has announce that George Russell sent a letter apologising to the Williams team for his avoidable Imola crash behind the Safety Car - and the letter has been well received by the team.

Even before pen was put to paper, the forlorn sight of a devastated George Russell sat up against a fence was etched on the mind of those watching on tv. Such an image brought with it a flashback to the memory of Mika Hakkinen on his knees and in tears at the 1999 Italian Grand Prix. Yes, it may just be a sport but it matters an awful lot to those competing in it.

Soon after his race ending crash, George Russell took to Twitter and posted:

“I'll never forget this day, this mistake. I'll learn from it, be stronger for it. I'm so sorry to the whole team, no excuses."

This tweet was met with messages of support from fans, friends and fellow drivers such as Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton.

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/17751/f1-imola-gp-hamilton-the-trophy-definitely-is-a-keeper

However, George Russell always showed he regretted the fact that he let his team down and this is the message of his letter shared recently on racefans.net

“There was one reason and one reason only why we were in a points scoring opportunity this weekend,” it read.

“That was because every single one of you are giving 100% and pushing this race car to its limit, week in week out.

“I wish more than anything that I had kept it out of the wall and brought home a point or two,”

George Russell went on to explain that he is well aware that if he had been more careful in his approach behind the Safety Car, he would have “come away with a result”. However, the F2 Drivers’ Champion from 2018 also made clear in his letter “we’re racers, we’re not here to play it safe.”

What followed as the letter came to a close was an indication of George Russell’s mindset from the moments before his race ending collision.

“We go racing to push the boundaries. It will result in massive disappointment here and there, but the second we lift the foot off the throttle and start operating at 95%, we may as well stay home.

“We all know that we have a car that needs to be pushed to the edge, and sometimes beyond, to fight for points at the moment…I can feel that we’re getting there, slowly but surely.”

Such a battle cry, as he letter came to a close, stated the intention of George Russell to bring Williams as close to the front of the grid as he can:

“No doubt when it comes, it won’t stop and we’ll be on a roll. The future is bright for the team.”

For a man who was facing (unwarranted) speculation over his race seat a fortnight ago, this tone shows Russell as a defiant leader and one to rally a team behind him.

Everyone makes mistakes and in professional sport the consequences can be severe.

George Russell is a gifted racer and a real talent and there is no doubt that F1 World Championship points will come his way sooner or later. Such incidents as seen in Imola this past weekend are character building and Russell will certainly be stronger because of it. As a result of this, so too will the Williams team as a whole and that can only be a good thing for Formula One.