Mercedes left Christian Horner red-faced when they pulled out one piece of evidence in George Russell protest

George Russell claimed his first win of the 2025 season over Max Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix. But it was not without its drama.

The Mercedes driver beat the defending four-time champion to pole position and held his own for much of the race. Things were sparked into chaos when Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris collided on lap 67, with the latter crashing out of the race.

Subsequently, the race ended under the safety car, with Russell taking victory, Verstappen finishing second and Kimi Antonelli recording his first F1 podium in third. Verstappen praised Russell’s ‘very good’ start as he pulled away from the Red Bull driver.

But drama continues after the race as Red Bull lodged a protest to the FIA about Russell’s antics under the safety car. The team argued the Brit was braking excessively down the back straight, which led to Verstappen briefly overtaking him.

The FIA dismissed Red Bull’s protest, seeing no wrongdoing from Russell behind the safety car. F1 fans were furious with the FIA as it took them five and a half hours to announce the result of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Russell’s unheard radio showed he was correct as he kept within his delta time, which cars must do under the safety car. Mercedes knew they were in the right when they saw Verstappen’s data.

Mercedes left Christian Horner red-faced by showing that Max Verstappen was also braking excessively under the safety car

Speaking via the Autosport YouTube channel, journalist Ronald Vording shared that Mercedes brought Verstappen’s telemetry to the stewards’ room after the race. It showed that the Dutchman, like Russell, was braking hard under the safety car to meet his delta time.

“They were in the stewards’ room, and of course it takes time because the meeting itself already took 45 minutes,” said Vording.

“Red Bull basically said: ‘Yeah, the braking manoeuvre was erratic and also he went on the radio straight away and that’s unsportsmanlike behaviour’.

“Then of course Mercedes could reply and they were really well prepared because they had also telemetry data, but then from Max’s car.

“Not only from that lap but also from some other laps behind the safety car to show that a couple of times he braked with exactly the same force as George Russell.

“And then George explained: ‘Yeah, basically I was forced to do this by the safety car and also the car behind me has to be prepared to do it’.

“Then an FIA official spoke and he basically paved the way for the stewards’ already because he fully went with George’s narrative, and then the stewards’ did the same.”

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F1 rivals will not like Christian Horner’s comments about Max Verstappen’s comments to the FIA amid Canada protest

With McLaren failing to score a podium for the first time this season, Verstappen has closed the gap to Piastri to 43 points. But the Dutchman still has a long way to go to grab a fifth title, and he still has the prospect of a one-race ban.

Verstappen has 11 penalty points on his superlicence, earning three in Barcelona for his collision with Russell. The incident put the Red Bull driver under threat of a ban in Canada, and he must get through the Austrian GP for his points to be reduced to nine.

Christian Horner had the prospect of his star driver getting banned looming over him throughout the Canadian GP. He had warned the FIA about Verstappen potentially being targeted by rivals to get a race ban; he would have felt Russell’s actions were deliberate.

F1 rivals will not like Horner’s comments, as Verstappen earned 11 penalty points through his own actions, rather than others. The Dutchman must keep it clean on track if he wants to stay in this title fight.