George Russell took ‘matters into his own hands’ during Christian Horner interaction after Miami Grand Prix protest

Mercedes and Red Bull Racing are in a fascinating battle to be the best of the rest behind McLaren during the 2025 Formula 1 season.

If you combine Mercedes and Red Bull’s points tallies, then it adds up to McLaren’s constructors’ championship-leading score at the top of the table.

McLaren finished one-two in both the Sprint Race and Sunday’s Grand Prix, with Lando Norris taking the honours during the shortened event, while Oscar Piastri was the star of the show during the main race.

Max Verstappen reminded Martin Brundle of Michael Schumacher with his dogged defence against Piastri, and once again proved to be a roadblock to Norris after their frequent battles last season.

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner are well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of both of their teams.

Mercedes are benefitting from George Russell being in the form of his life, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli had arguably the best weekend of his burgeoning F1 career.

However, they’re up against the might of Verstappen, although Red Bull are being held back by what’s happening in the garage beside him as Yuki Tsunoda narrowly clung onto the final point at the Miami Grand Prix.

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George Russell approached Christian Horner after Miami Grand Prix protest

Russell pipped Verstappen to the final place on the podium after taking advantage of a well-timed virtual safety car.

However, the Dutchman noticed Russell potentially speeding under yellow flags when Gabriel Bortoleto brought out the third and final VSC of the race.

Red Bull launched a formal protest against Russell, but this was eventually dismissed by the stewards, and journalist Julianne Cerasoli reported on the Pit Pass F1 podcast what happened after the race.

She said, “We actually only had the full confirmation that George Russell was third a few hours after the race because Red Bull then protested against Russell for not slowing down under the yellows.

“And Russell, by the way, he could barely stand after the race, he had some stomach cramps, which he defined as this pain is like having a baby in my belly, and he took matters into his own hands and he went and spoke to Horner at Red Bull about the protest and then he was followed by Toto Wolff.

“The protest ended up being denied, the stewards felt George had slowed down enough and he kept the third place with Max Verstappen in fourth position.

“He has lost a lot of ground for having stopped before the VSC, so that’s why he ended up off the podium.”

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George Russell once again in contact with Christian Horner after Red Bull rumours

It’s fascinating that Russell, alongside Wolff, decided to confront Horner after the race over the yellow flags incident.

In the past, Verstappen has caught Norris not slowing down under waved yellows and thought it was worth a try to try and alert the stewards to a potential infringement.

However, it also highlights how close Russell and Verstappen are in terms of pace right now that the Red Bull driver couldn’t close him down during the final stint, and the 27-year-old had to be reminded to stay within five seconds of his Mercedes rival at the end of the race as he tried to conserve energy with an overtake looking impossible to complete.

Russell and Horner have held informal chats recently over a potential move in the F1 driver market.

Verstappen’s Red Bull get-out clause would activate if the standings stay the same at the summer break, meaning Horner has to prepare for every scenario.

Given Russell and Verstappen haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, it would be a particularly interesting dynamic in the paddock next season if the Brit was in Red Bull colours.