George Russell has escaped punishment for his collision with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying, but has received a warning from the FIA race stewards. The duo came together down the start-finish straight as both attempted to complete a final flying lap in Q2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Hamilton taking damage to his front wing. Russell was summoned to F1's stewards for allegedly "abnormally changing direction directly causing impact" with Hamilton. But confirming there would be no punishment, except a formal warning for Russell and the team, the stewards' report found that Russell did not check his mirrors, nor did the team "inform him of the approach of Car #44. "However, in mitigation, he was reacting to the car in front of him (Sainz), and at the end of his out-lap, the driver of car #63 had to sow significantly to avoid impeding cars #1 and #55 (Max Verstappen and Sainz)." Russell failed to advance from the second qualifying session and will start 12th on the grid, whilst Hamilton was unable to join 2021 title rival Max Verstappen on the front row and will start fifth.
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