George Russell narrowly avoided a collision with Oscar Piastri while entering the pit lane during the second free practice session at Zandvoort earlier on Friday. The cars were instructed to pit owing to red flag conditions on the track, and a miscommunication from the McLaren garage put Russell's Mercedes in a tough spot.As the field was heading towards the pit lane, Russell found himself behind Piastri's McLaren. As the latter turned in towards his grid spot, the team redirected him to the other one, forcing him to rejoin the fast lane before turning back in to take the other grid spot.Russell, right behind him, had to stomp on his brakes to avoid a collision. Both cars narrowly avoided each other.While there was seemingly no damage in either of the cars, George Russell was flabbergasted because of the move. He went on to say on his team radio:"Oh my god. [...] Piastri just turning into his box, and I was passing on the left and then he just turned into me. As you can probably tell by the tone of my voice, I was not expecting that... He was going long into his box."The stewards noted the incident, which was investigated after the race. Oscar Piastri's car was found to be in violation of the sporting regulations; subsequently, McLaren was fined €5,000.George Russell opens up on his contract situation with MercedesThe Briton's contract with Mercedes expires at the end of the current F1 season. Despite only 10 races remaining in the season, there have been no official announcements regarding a contract extension.However, Russell hasn't been bothered by it. Speaking to the media, he revealed that the team was open to a discussion in August, but he did not want to negotiate during the summer break; hence, he pushed it."This was my choice to be honest," George Russell said, talking about not signing an extension during the summer break (via F1.) "Toto [Wolff] and the team were very open to discuss and come to a solution during the break but I didn't want to use those precious two weeks that we have to really take the time off and recharge."He added:"Ultimately, there is no time pressure from my side, there's no major time pressure from the team's side, we'll get it done when the time is right."George Russell has been driving for the team since the 2022 season and has proved to be quite competitive and consistent out on the track. He has won multiple races with them so far, but Mercedes has yet to deliver him a car capable enough to assess his skills as a championship contender.