Palmer: Russell's mistake is easier to do than you would imagine

An incident that potentially cost him the first points of his F1 career, Russell was at the front of the pack following the safety car on cold, hard tyres when on lap 52, he spun into the barriers before Acque Minerali.

Taking to Instagram after the race, the Briton branded it "the biggest mistake" of his career. In response, he has received an outpouring of support from the F1 fraternity, with Palmer, who drove for Renault in 2016 and '17, now adding his name to the list.

"Crashing out from behind the Safety Car is a cardinal sin in Formula 1, particularly if you are running in the top 10 and have never previously scored a point," he wrote in his column of the official F1 website. "But it’s actually far easier to do than anyone watching-on could imagine, and that is why we do see it from time to time.

"When track temperatures are high and you are on soft tyres, this sort of thing doesn’t happen, but when that is not the case, it is possible, and George Russell sadly found out the hard way on Sunday.

"We see it from time to time in pre-season testing as well, when cars have silly-looking spins on the cold mornings, always from the rear tyres losing grip.

"When the fronts get cold you lock the brakes and can’t turn the car properly without it juddering horribly across the circuit.

"When the rears get cold you risk these silly moments, where the car suddenly breaks away under the strain of 1,000 horsepower."

Relating the incident to his own in the 2016 Monaco GP, Palmer suggested that the bumps in the track surface did him no favours, and stressed that whatever Russell's culpability, he would only grow from it.

"I too learnt the hard way when it came to tyre temperatures in Monaco in 2016, crashing on the main straight on a Safety Car restart, but in effect the start of the race.

"For me, it was compounded by crossing a zebra crossing at a sodden Monaco, but it was a lack of tyre temperature that predominantly did the damage and caused the car to suddenly snap. There’s nothing the driver can do once that happens.

"For Russell a slight bump in the road was his compounding factor, mixed with too much throttle and sub-optimal rear tyre temperatures. A gutting error.

"There’s no doubt he is an immensely talented young driver though, and he can cope with the pressure, as we’ve seen time and time again in the dying embers of Q1 on Saturdays.

"On top of his natural talents, he’s a hard working driver, and if he learns from moments like this, it can’t be long until he does break that points duck."