Mercedes’ George Russell was handed a rare in-practice warning following a near-miss with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during Friday practice at Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.
Leclerc was trying to get past Russell while on a push lap during second practice in Austin and had to take to the run-off at Turn 18 as the pair came incredibly close to making contact.
Race control issued Russell with a black-and-white flag for forcing another driver off the track. Minutes later, race control passed the incident on to the stewards for a formal investigation.
However, the stewards quickly decided that no further action was necessary.
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"I do think it was a difference in power that the two cars had,” Sky Sports F1 pundit and former grand prix driver Anthony Davidson commented.
"I didn't see it as forcing another driver off the track. It definitely wasn't intentional. But I'd like to see it again.”
Russell heads into this weekend’s race 102 points behind Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli will win his maiden F1 world championship in Austin if he wins the race and Russell finishes ninth or lower, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton below fourth.
Leclerc set the pace in opening practice, and, at the time of writing, was once again top of the timesheets in FP2.
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