George Russell wants F1 rule change after 'not necessary' Red Bull act
Red Bull protested George Russell's victory at the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago and now the Mercedes driver is advocating for an increased fee to lodge such complaints
George Russell believes Formula 1 teams should have to put up a significant amount of money to protests the result of a race, to deter them from attempting long-shot appeals. It comes after the Brit's victory at the Canadian Grand Prix was protested after the race by Red Bull.
Max Verstappen finished second and had complained over the radio about how Russell was driving behind the safety car in the final few laps. His Red Bull team decided to escalate that and accused the Mercedes racer of "erratic" driving which they felt warranted a penalty.
After a lengthy investigation which left the race result in doubt for more than five hours, the stewards rejected the complaints. The result of the race was made official and Red Bull lost the money that they had to put up in order to make that appeal – all £1,700 of it.
For a company the size of Red Bull Racing, such an amount is a mere drop in the ocean. And Russell pointed that out as he suggested teams should have to put a six-figure sum on the line if they want to make an official protest, in order to deter any nuisance complaints.
Asked if he felt an increased fee would have that effect, he replied: "Yeah, 100 percent. When you look at the financial penalties for using swear words in the heat of the moment, or touching a rear wing, €2,000 for a team making nine-figure profits is not even going to touch the side.
"It's not even going to be thought about, so yeah, potentially, if it was a six-figure sum to be put down, maybe they would think twice about it. You do get your money back if you win a protest, so it's basically your own risk. At the moment, €2,000 for a Formula 1 team is not even a consideration."
Speaking the day after the Montreal race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he had "absolutely no regrets" about the decision to launch the appeal, pointing out that they had the right to submit the protest and so "that's what we chose to do".
Verstappen wasn't willing to comment on the situation, when asked about it in Austria on Thursday, other than to say: "I think everything has been said about Montreal. I have nothing to add from that race. It doesn't help anything to keep talking about it."
Russell absolved his rival of any blame for the frivolous complaint and said: "It was nothing, and it all came from Red Bull, as opposed to Max – I don't think he was even aware of the protest.
"It was pretty clear there wasn't going to be any penalty. My personal view is that they wanted to go and be offensive to protect Max in case he got a penalty for going ahead of me during the Safety Car incident. My personal view is that it was just a bit of a faff and not really necessary."
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