George Russell takes full responsibility for knocking Carlos Sainz out of US GP

Mercedes driver George Russell said he swiftly apologised to Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz after colliding with him on Sunday's first lap of the 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, forcing Sainz to retire from the race, having started in pole position.

The Mercedes driver was handed a five-second penalty for being responsible for the collision, accepting 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 (Verstappen). 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.

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Apology accepted...George dropped by to say sorry to Carlos after the race ??#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/nbt0cS6LFL

Front-wing damage

Russell ended up finishing the race in the 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."

The next F1 event will be this 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