16/06/2025 03:19
George Russell has retained his Canadian Grand Prix victory after
the stewards rejected a protest from Red Bull. The investigation
was sparked following a shock collision involving McLaren duo Oscar
Piastri and Lando Russell, resulting in the retirement of the
latter and sparking the introduction of a safety car with three
laps remaining at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Behind the safety
car, Mercedes driver Russell braked sharply, causing Verstappen,
following directly behind, to momentarily pass. The four-time F1
champion made his feelings clear over the radio to race engineer
Gianpiero Lambiase. "George suddenly just aggressively braked,"
complained Verstappen. Lambiase responded: "Understood, thank you,
we will check for any erratic driving." Russell, meanwhile,
complained to his race engineer, Marcus Dudley, that, "Verstappen
just overtook me under the safety car." A few minutes later, and
upon review, Lambiase then informed Verstappen: "That incident with
Russell now being shown on the feeds, Max, it's pretty blatant.
Just don't fall for the gamesmanship, OK? Thank you." There was
seemingly the suggestion that Russell deliberately attempted to get
Verstappen to pass, and get him charged with 'overtaking under
safety car conditions', earning a penalty and additional points on
his licence, so incurring a race ban. However, following a lengthy
hearing, and almost six hours after the race finished, the stewards
determined that Red Bull's submissions were unfounded, and there
were no grounds for the appeal.
