20/06/2025 17:15
Christian Horner insists Red Bull is not deliberately targeting
George Russell after two recent protests against the Mercedes
driver. The Milton Keynes sought to have the 27-year-old penalised
post-race for failing to sufficiently slow for yellow flags at the
Miami Grand Prix, which, if upheld, would have seen Russell demoted
from third position, with Max Verstappen elevated to the Floridian
podium. That preceded the controversies surrounding the Canadian
Grand Prix, with Red Bull lodging a protest to the stewards on two
counts against the British driver for safety car infringements. It
led to the results only being finalised over five hours after the
chequered flag flying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. As was the
case in the Sunshine State, both were rejected by officials and the
original results stood unamended. Horner explained why Red Bull had
contested the outcome of the race when it was pointed out it was
the second Russell-centric protest in five rounds and asked if it
was a mere coincidence. "It's certainly not personal to George,"
the 51-year-old told media including RacingNews365 . "The way that
the regulations are, the regulations are pretty binary, pretty
clear. So, we put in a protest." The Red Bull team principal
compared the situation in Montreal to when Sergio Perez was found
guilty of two safety car offences at the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix.
Despite being given one five-second time penalty, the Mexican
driver retained victory at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. However,
Horner felt a precedent had been set. "The regulations are very
clear about the safety car," he added. "If you remember, Checo
[Sergio Perez] back in Singapore in '22 got two penalties for it
[one was a warning]. "So there were very clear precedents."
