Mercedes driver George Russell has declared his assault on this season’s F1 drivers’ championship to be “a complete disaster”.

Russell’s remarks followed a frustrating Qatar Grand Prix in which his race was ruined by a first-corner collision with team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Russell was left with nowhere to go as Hamilton cut across his fellow Briton into Turn 1 in his bid to overtake the Red Bull of Max Verstappen around the outside of the sweeping right-hander.

The incident resulted in Hamilton careering into the gravel and out of the race, and although Russell sustained damage to his W14, he was able to limp back to the pits for a front-wing and tyre change before going on to finish a creditable fourth.

As the senior member of the team, the seven-time champion took responsibility for the crash, conceding that Russell was not at fault.

That at least meant something to Russell, who said: “I definitely appreciate him apologising for that, for sure.

“As I said on the radio, in every instance, it involves two people and I definitely appreciate what he said.

“But we’ve got respect for each other. Nothing was intentional from either side.”

Over the team radio, and in the heat of the moment, there was obvious anger and frustration from both sides before tempers subsided and perspective was placed on the matter.

“Of course, I was frustrated because it was just such a big missed opportunity for both of us,” remarked Russell. “And we had a lot of discussions (in the pre-race strategy meeting) about how we were going to work together.

“The fight wasn’t with each other, the fight is with Ferrari, although fortunately we still came up with more points than them.”

Mercedes is now 28 points clear of Ferrari in the scrap for second place in the constructors’ championship.

As for Russell, he is a surprisingly lowly eighth in the drivers’ standings due to the 25-year-old scoring only one podium this year – third in Spain – compared to eight in total last season, which included a win in São Paulo.

“I was gutted because of the result for the team,” said Russell. “And for me, this year the drivers’ championship has just been a complete disaster.

“I’ve now got one goal and that’s to finish P2 in the teams’ championship. It (Qatar GP) was, of course, a big opportunity, but I still have full faith we will be able to achieve it (second place).

“I have positivity because the car was quick, I had a really strong race, and we’ve got a few little things coming for the last races of the season.

“So I believe we’ll still achieve that result.”