George Russell saved his win within the Canadian Grand Prix after the stewards rejected a Purple Bull protest towards the Mercedes driver.
Russell beat Max Verstappen to victory in Sunday’s race to file Mercedes’ first win of the season.
However two hours after the chequered flag had dropped, it emerged Purple Bull had challenged the end result by lodging two protests in regards to the Brit’s driving behind the late-race Security Automobile.
Purple Bull alleged that Russell had damaged the rules by each driving erratically in entrance of Verstappen and dedicated unsportsmanlike conduct by, of their view, making an attempt to get his rival penalised.
Nonetheless, after summoning drivers and representatives from each groups and reviewing knowledge and video proof throughout the course of their investigation on Sunday night, the Montreal stewards finally threw Purple Bull’s case out nearly six hours after Russell had taken the chequered flag.
Within the doc confirming their resolution, the stewards stated: “We settle for the driving force of Automobile 63’s rationalization of the incident and we’re happy that the driving force of Automobile 63 didn’t drive erratically by braking the place he did or to the extent he did.
“We’re not happy that by merely reporting to his workforce that Automobile 1 had overtaken that he engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct.
“Even though the protest did not allege it, we are also satisfied that by braking where and when he did and to the extent he did, the driver of Car 63 did not engage in unsportsmanlike conduct.”
The protest was the most recent twist in a contentious collection of occasions involving Verstappen and Russell.
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George Russell takes a dig at Max Verstappen after beating him to take pole in Montreal.
The Purple Bull driver was penalised for inflicting a collision with Russell on the earlier spherical of the 2025 season in Spain, with the incident incomes Verstappen three penalty factors that left him on the point of a race ban in Canada, and can proceed to do on the subsequent spherical in Austria earlier than some factors drop off licence.
After beating Verstappen to pole on Saturday in Montreal, Russell steered he had a bonus over his rival because of the penalty factors scenario.
Verstappen stated he was “pi**ed off” at “childish” touch upon his scenario shortly after in a post-qualifying press convention.
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Max Verstappen was fast to close down a query requested to him about his penalty factors this season.
The pair additionally engaged in a rare disagreement ultimately yr’s season finale following Verstappen being penalised for an incident involving Russell on the previous spherical in Qatar.
Purple Bull launched a protest towards Russell earlier this season in Miami after the Brit had completed a spot forward of Verstappen in third on the Miami Grand Prix. The allegation that Russell had did not sufficiently sluggish below yellow flags was dismissed.
Horner explains Purple Bull protest
Talking to the written media after information of their protests had turn out to be public, Purple Bull workforce principal Christian Horner stated: “Two protests that we’ve put to the stewards, that we’ve asked them to have a look at.
“Firstly, regarding the erratic driving behind the Security Automobile, the place George very closely braked, clearly trying in his mirror for Max.
“Then the second one is very clearly the distance that was left behind the Safety Car that was well in excess, I think at least three times in excess, of the permitted distance.
“It is €2,000 per protest, and we had been shocked that they weren’t famous and despatched to the stewards, so subsequently you will have the proper as a competitor to try this, and that is what we have chosen to do.”
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Mercedes’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli replicate on their first and third place finishes respectively
There was no particular point out within the stewards’ doc of an allegation of Russell leaving too huge a spot to the Security Automobile.
Verstappen had stated over Purple Bull workforce radio on lap 68 that “George suddenly just aggressively braked”, whereas Russell stated the Dutchman “just overtook me under the Safety Car”.
Talking to Sky Sports activities F1 afterwards, Verstappen had stated: “I think we were both trying to say to the Safety Car to speed up because he was only going 120kph, but I think maybe it was doing that to give a bit more time to maybe get a race lap in.
“So George was attempting to hurry as much as the Security Automobile and I used to be attempting to do the identical. As soon as, he tried to hurry as much as the Security Automobile he backed out and it induced a little bit of confusion.”
Next up for the 2025 Formula 1 season is a return to Europe for the Austrian Grand Prix, which is live on Sky Sports F1 from June 27-29. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.
