Watch: Lewis Hamilton walks up to George Russell to apologize for the race-ending collision in the 2023 F1 Qatar GP

Lewis Hamilton went up to his Mercedes teammate George Russell to apologize to him and the team after a first-lap incident between the two drivers at the Qatar GP.

The seven-time world champion had a fast start off the line and was fighting with Max Verstappen and Russell for the lead heading into the first corner. But he turned in a bit too quickly on the apex and hit his teammate, which eventually took him out of the race and caused damage to Russell's car.

The Briton accepted the blame for the incident and even apologized to George Russell after the race. Russell took to his social media to give his take on the incident and accepted Hamilton's apology. He said:

"No hard feelings. We’re here to fight and maximize for the team. We misjudged it today, but our car was exceptionally strong and I’m proud of the whole team. Time to regroup and continue building off the strong pace in Austin."

George Russell analyzes his P4 finish at the end of the Qatar GP

Despite the first-lap clash with his teammate, Russell was able to secure a P4 finish as he displayed some outstanding overtaking and a superior race pace to his rivals.

As per F1.com, George Russell said:

"I’m obviously bitterly disappointed with what happened at the start. It all happened so quickly… I made a good start, Lewis made a good start, I was alongside Max, and the next thing just got completely sandwiched. I felt so disappointed for us both because we spoke this morning, we knew we were going to work together, and we both said we both wanted to be standing on that podium, it doesn’t matter what order, we’re here for the team."

"I know there was nothing intentional, both ways. I’m still glad we managed to finish ahead of Ferrari, get some more points on the board and we had a fast race car, so we’ll just take the positives. We have so much respect for one another. Of course, this should never happen. We’ll talk and we’ll go from there."

Given that George Russell finished P4 despite some damage and an additional pit stop, it would have been fascinating to see where he and Lewis Hamilton would have finished the race if they hadn't crashed.

There is a possibility that they both could have challenged the McLarens for the podium positions and may have notched up even more points than they did in their championship battle against Ferrari.