F1 news: George Russell apologised for crash with Carlos Sainz at United States Grand Prix

The incident happened on the first corner when Russell attacked the inside lane but locked brakes to crash into the side of the Ferrari, which forced Sainz to end up retiring from the race having started in pole position.

The Mercedes driver was handed a five-second penalty for being responsible for the collision and accepted being in the wrong, and said: "Apologies to Carlos, I have already been to see him.

"When I was attacking turn one and I saw he was on the outside of Max. I was expecting him to try and hold it around the outside of him and as soon as I recognised, he was trying to cut back underneath Max I had already committed to my braking zone and contact was inevitable.

"As a driver, you need to be aware of those possibilities of the cars ahead. Not a lot more to say," Russell said.

Russell ended up finishing the race in fifth position and afterwards, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted the damage had been far greater than initially thought.

"This man had a really damaged front wing, by the way," Wolff said. "So, the driving wasn't so bad, it was the front wing.

"I've seen it. It was massively damaged," he added.

The next Formula 1 event will be happening this upcoming weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix on the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

Since 2015, the Mexican GP has been dominated by both Mercedes and Red Bull with the teams having won the race three times each. The 2020 race never happened due to Covid-19.

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes has won twice and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has claimed three victories. Retired Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won the 2015 race.