Mercedes reportedly plan to hold discussions with drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to avoid a clash like the one suffered at the Qatar Grand Prix. Seven-time world champion Hamilton was sent crashing out of the race on the first lap after a collision with his own team-mate, with both hitting out at each other over the team radio.
Hamilton has since accepted the blame for the incident and has apologised to Russell. However, it saw tensions reach boiling point after months of a simmering cold war between the Brits.
The Silver Arrows pair made contact at the first corner, with only seconds gone in the race. Hamilton was sent spinning onto the gravel and was unable to continue. He returned to the pit lane to see that he was at fault.
But Mercedes are apparently keen to halt a bitter fall-out between Hamilton and Russell before tensions get any worse. They do not want a repeat of the bitter falling out Hamilton had with former team-mate Nico Rosberg as they battled for the 2016 World Championship.
According to The Race, Mercedes will speak with both drivers “behind closed doors” although the pair were “magnanimous” towards each other after the race in Lusail.
Communications chief Bradley Lord said afterwards: “We have our racing intent, our shared document that we all buy into as to how we approach races as a team. The drivers have bought into that along with everybody else.”
Hamilton accepted the blame for his collision with Russell. He reflected: “In the heat of the moment, it was obviously frustrating because I felt this tap from the rear end, but I don’t think George had anywhere to go, it was just an unfortunate scenario.
“I’ve watched the replay and it was 100 per-cent my fault and I take full responsibility. Apologies to my team and to George.”
Asked about his relationship with Russell, the 38-year-old continued: “I don’t have any problems with George, we have a great relationship, we work and we always talk about things.
“So this is definitely unfortunate and I’m sure he was frustrated in the moment like I was. But we’ll talk about it offline and we move forward. As I said, just apologies to all of the team.”
