George Russell failed to see the chequered flag at the Belgian Grand Prix after emerging as the victim in an accident with Antonio Giovinazzi in the seventh round of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship.

The 22-year-old started the 44-lap affair from the eighth row of the grid in 15th after an impressive qualifying performance on Saturday, challenging both Ferrari drivers until the conclusion of Q2.

George secured a strong getaway at the start of the race, gaining places into Turn 1 and through the run to Turn 5, however, was unable to maintain this momentum which placed the Briton out of position on the circuit.

After falling to 17th, George was in pursuit of the cars ahead, but come lap 11 his race was over after sustaining terminal damage when taking evasive action during an accident involving Giovinazzi, who crashed on the run to Turn 15.

A stray tyre struck George’s Williams FW43, breaking the front-right suspension which made the car undrivable as a second impact into the outside wall forced the Briton to retire from the race.

George Russell – Williams Racing Driver

“It is frustrating, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and there was nothing we could do. I went to the left to avoid Antonio’s car and then his wheel came from nowhere and hit the front of my car which pushed me into the wall. It was quite a big impact, but I am ok. I feel very fortunate to have the halo on the car as it could have gone quite near my helmet. It was a very unfortunate set of circumstances, but that’s just racing sometimes. Up until that point I was in a good rhythm. I had overtaken the Haas, but it would have been a long and difficult race out there for us.”

The 2020 Formula 1 World Championship next heads to the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza from September 4-6 for the Italian Grand Prix – the second race in the season’s third triple-header.