George Russell was frustrated with Red Bull’s protest at the Canadian Grand Prix as it was a “waste of everybody’s time”, and it meant Andrew Shovlin and Ron Meadows missed their flights home.

Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen, the Briton assured of the win as the race finished behind the Safety Car, which was out after Lando Norris ploughed into Oscar Piastri.

George Russell: But it’s over now, eyes forward

Although fireworks were predicted for the start of the Grand Prix as Russell lined up on pole position ahead of Verstappen, their controversial Spanish Grand Prix still a hot topic, it wasn’t until the Safety Car that the flashpoint came.

Putting heat into his Pirelli tyres as he ran behind the Safety Car, Russell hit the brakes on the back straight en route to the chicane.

That resulted in Verstappen flying past him as the Red Bull driver was caught unaware, and it also meant Russell exceeded the maximum 10-car lengths that the lead driver should be from the Safety Car.

Russell was immediately onto the radio to report that Verstappen had overtaken him in Safety Car conditions, with the Dutchman speaking to Red Bull to defend himself.

Russell: “Verstappen just overtook me under the Safety Car.”
Verstappen: “George suddenly just aggressively braked.”

The stewards opted against an investigation, only for Red Bull to protest both Russell’s alleged Safety Car infringement and his ‘unsportsmanlike intent’.

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Red Bull team boss Christian Horner claimed at the time that Russell’s “objective”, having spoken of Verstappen’s penalty points after qualifying, was clear.

“I think you could hear from George’s press comments yesterday, his objective was reasonably clear,” Horner said. “So, I don’t think there were any surprises with that.”

The stewards, though, ‘rejected Red Bull’s protests as being without foundation’.

Russell has called it a “waste of time”, revealing it kept Shovlin and Meadows, who represent Mercedes in discussions with the race stewards during hearings, from making their flights home.

“Max didn’t know there was a protest even going on,” he told Sky Sports at the premiere of the F1, The Movie.

“So I don’t know what was going on, what they were thinking. I’m glad nothing happened one way or another.

“It was just a bit of a waste of everybody’s time.

“Shov and Ron, who work with the team, both missed their flights so it was just a bit of a faff for everybody.

“But it’s over now. Eyes forward.”

Russell’s team principal Toto Wolff also wasn’t impressed as he called it “petty” and “embarrassing”.

“First of all, it took team Red Bull Racing two hours before they launched the protest, so that was in their doing. You know, honestly, it’s so petty and so small,” he told Sky Sports.

“They’ve done it in Miami. Now they launched two protests. They took one back because it was ridiculous.

“They come up with some weird clauses, what they call clauses. I guess the FIA needs to look at that because it’s so far-fetched, it was rejected.

“You know, you race, you win and you lose on track. That was a fair victory for us, like so many they had in the past. And it’s just embarrassing.”

“One of them they actually pulled as a protest, they didn’t even follow it through because it was nonsense,” he continued.

“The second one took us five hours because I don’t even know what you refer to as ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’ or something. What is it all about? Who decides it? Because I’m 100 per cent sure it’s not Max, he’s a racer.

“He would never go for a protest on such a trivial thing.”

Holding on to the Canadian GP win, Russell moved to 136 points, putting him just 19 behind Verstappen in the fight to join the McLaren team-mates on the F1 2025 season’s podium.

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