SINGAPORE -- George Russell crashed out of the lead of the sprint race at the Singapore Grand Prix as his slim championship chances took another brutal blow.
Russell had beaten Max Verstappen down to Turn 1 in Saturday's sprint, which was delayed due to a pre-race shower and started with all drivers on the intermediate wet tyre.
As he rounded the final corner to start the second lap, Russell got wide on the kerb and slammed into the wall.
Russell's car went backwards across the race track and fortunately was not collected by any of the following drivers. "S---," Russell immediately said on the Mercedes team radio. "Sorry."
When asked if he was OK, he replied; "Ahhh. I'm fine. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."
The crash immediately brought out a Safety Car.
The incident saw the British driver squander an opportunity to take some points out of teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who was in seventh when Russell crashed.
Antonelli benefitted from some late drama to gain more points, with McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri colliding ahead of him on the final lap.
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Antonelli finished fourth and gained five points to extend his lead over Russell to 89 points.
"Miscalculation," Russell told Sky Sports. "Came through the corner had more battery deployment than I thought, pushed me a little bit wider than I hoped and went onto the white line. Silly mistake. Big consequences."
Russell is set to start Sunday's race from the back of the grid due to a penalty for changing his engine after it failed at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia last weekend and looks set to go to Austin's U.S. Grand prix even further back.
Verstappen controlled the race after Russell's crash to claim his first sprint victory this season, with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton second and Charles Leclerc third.