Russell: Relationship with Toto has not been damaged

The Briton is a Mercedes protege, racing for a team using the tri-star badged engines, and the high-speed crash with the Finn that put both men out of the race and wrecked their cars.

Russell, who filled in for seven-times F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton to considerable acclaim in Bahrain last year after his compatriot contracted COVID-19, has apologised for his angry reaction afterwards.

He told reporters at the Portuguese Grand Prix on Thursday that the incident was a part of racing but he had made a "very poor judgement call" in confronting Bottas and suggesting the Finn had tried to kill them both.

"Toto and I have spoken extensively since the incident but the contents of that will remain private," he said. "He's been very supportive, very constructive. Our relationship has not been damaged at all following the incident, if anything quite the opposite.

"And likewise with everybody at Williams. They have been incredibly supportive, they want me to attack, go for opportunities. We're proud to have been in that position. We were in 10th position, fighting for points on merit."

Williams have scored only one point since 2018 but Russell was trying to overtake Bottas -- whose seat he could take next year -- on a slippery track for ninth place.

While strongly critical of Russell's judgement, Wolff also said Bottas should not have been so far down the field on that day.

Russell said there had been no rules of engagement laid down for future races but "just a bit more commonsense" was needed.

"If we find ourselves fighting a Mercedes again we'll be doing a very good job... so hopefully we do find ourselves in that circumstance," he added.

"I'm here because of Mercedes, they got me through the junior ranks, they really helped me into Formula One and as a consequence, they are a family to me as Williams are a family to me.

"Lewis and Valtteri are teammates to me as Nicholas (Latifi) is a teammate to me. Number one rule as a racing driver is you don't clash with your teammates. That's behind us now, you live and learn and we'll move on." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin)