David Croft issues apology to George Russell as spooky commentator’s curse discovered

An eagle-eyed social media user has spotted a strange common factor between George Russell’s crashes in Singapore and Australia…

The incredible similarities between the circumstances of George Russell’s race-ending mistakes in the past few months keep coming, with a verbal crutch from David Croft now being identified as another.

David Croft ‘commentator curse’ similarity between George Russell crashes

Towards the end of 2023, George Russell crashed out of the Singapore Grand Prix on the final lap, a race that was won by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

At last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, which Sainz won to end the streak of races won by Max Verstappen that stretches back to that Singapore GP loss, Russell also crashed out after the last lap had started.

Unusually, the next race after the 2023 Singapore crash was the Japanese GP – which is now the next round of the 2024 championship as the Suzuka race has been moved to an early slot in the calendar.

While these similarities are amazing enough in their own right, a keen viewer named ‘Mahir’ on X has spotted yet another common factor – the involvement of David Croft’s commentary.

Starting with the Singapore race, the Sky F1 commentator had just uttered the words “You can hear the cheers of the crowd” just as Russell clipped the wall and went off while hunting down the leading duo of Sainz and Lando Norris – Croft’s sentence having nothing to do with Russell’s mistake.

It’s hard to believe, but footage of Russell’s crash in Australia being broadcast live has revealed that Croft uttered the same words at the exact same moment Russell hit the barrier on the left-hand side of the track as he went off behind Fernando Alonso.

In case you’re not yet convinced that we are actually living in a simulation, here’s the evidence:

George Russell tends to crash whenever Crofty says “You can hear the cheers of the crowd” pic.twitter.com/G5GwAtXX4U

— Mahir 🇹🇷🇬🇧 (@ScrewderiaF1) March 26, 2024

Unsurprisingly, the Sky F1 broadcasters had some fun with the discovery of this ‘commentator’s curse’.

Karun Chandhok reposted the video, saying: “He’s a very powerful man our Crofty”, tagging the commentator in the post.

Croft jokingly apologised for ‘his part’ in cursing the Mercedes driver, saying: “Oh dear, has the commentators curse struck again?!!! I’m so sorry George.

“Got to say though I’m impressed with the research here!”

Russell will no doubt now be hoping for strong races at the Emilia-Romagna, Azerbaijan, and Austrian Grands Prix, which Croft will miss to allow Harry Benjamin to make his Sky F1 main commentator debut.

Benjamin’s abilities to place a commentator’s curse on a driver are not yet known.

Read Next: Damning Mercedes verdict as Sky F1 pundit raises concerns over Lewis Hamilton replacement