It took five hours for the race result to be confirmed after George Russell was cleared by the Canadian Grand Prix stewards, following a protest by Red Bull.
The team alleged that Russell drove erratically behind the late-race Safety Car that was brought out after the two McLarens collided, with Lando Norris putting himself out on the spot after hitting Oscar Piastri.
Because debris was strewn across the start/finish straight, it generated an issue for drivers as they had to stick to the delta time while also passing through the pits.
Max Verstappen could be heard accusing Russell of breaking the Safety Car rules, while Red Bull claimed that Russell was braking unnecessarily between Turns 12 and 13.
The protest was thrown out by the stewards as they found no evidence of erratic driving, but unheard team radio messages appear to show Russell was in the right.
George Russell’s radio messages show why Red Bull’s protest was thrown out
Central to Red Bull’s argument was that they felt Russell had demonstrated “unsportsmanlike intent” by complaining over team radio that Verstappen overtook him under Safety Car.
They felt Russell was trying to earn Verstappen a penalty, knowing that he is close to a race ban, and did so maliciously. But a look at the radio messages between Russell and his engineer Marcus Dudley tells a different story.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 68 | Russell: “Verstappen just overtook me under the safety car.” | |
| Dudley: “Understood, we’ll look. So following the safety car into the pit lane. So reminder of 10 car lengths, pit limiter on.” | ||
| Verstappen: “George suddenly just aggressively braked…” | ||
| GP: “Understood, thank you. We will check for any erratic driving.” |
Russell’s onboard shows that he slowed and then accelerated twice in order to keep to his delta time, which drivers are required to do when under Safety Car.
The regulation was introduced in 2023, which states in the Sporting Regulations under Article 55.7 that drivers must stay “above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU at least once in each marshalling sector.”
Russell complied with the rule throughout, but it appears Verstappen felt he contravened the rules as he did during last year’s Qatar Grand Prix.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 69 | Russell: “I was following the delta. It was negative.” | |
| Dudley: “So you push to catch the Safety Car now.” | ||
| Verstappen: “That’s more than 10 car lengths also, there.” | ||
| GP: “Okay, we will check that as well, thank you.” | ||
| GP: “Yeah, that incident with Russell now being shown on the feeds, Max. Pretty blatant. Just don’t fall for the gamesmanship, thank you.” | ||
| 70 | Dudley: “Safety Car delta.” | |
| Russell: “Yellow flag delta again on my [dashboard], yeah, just following the delta, the Safety Car is pulling away from the delta. That was a yellow flag delta. Is this the last lap?” | ||
| Dudley: “Affirm, this is the last lap.” | ||
| Russell: “Yeah, I don’t know what Verstappen was doing when I was behind the Safety Car.” |
Verstappen got more agitated as he saw Russell dropping back, but engineer Gianpiero Lambiase appeared to calm the Dutchman after what happened in Spain.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 70 | Verstappen: “Again, more than 10 car lengths, what is he doing?” | |
| GP: “Thank you.” | ||
| Verstappen: “Way more than 10, look at this!” | ||
| GP: “Yes, thank you Max. We’ll have a look. Cheers mate.” |
F1 fans unhappy after lengthy decision on Red Bull protest
The four and a half hour wait to know if Russell would be penalised or not, and thus, affecting the race outcome, was one that garnered criticism from F1 fans.
The process from the FIA can be lengthy as they must hear arguments from both team representatives, drivers, and before the stewards reconvene and give their decision.
The race result was confirmed at 2:45am UK time, with Red Bull’s protest being rejected and the final classification being issued by the FIA.
