High drama as Red Bull protest thrown out after Canadian Grand Prix

Five hours after the chequered flag was waved, Formula 1 stewards have handed down a string of punishments.

Red Bull’s protest against Canadian Grand Prix winner George Russell has been thrown out.

There was high drama deep into the night in Montreal with FIA stewards deliberating on a number of incidents that unfolded during Monday morning’s race.

It was more than five hours after the chequered flag had been waved that the FIA finally announced its verdict.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner earlier confirmed his team had lodged two formal protests against Russell over an incident between the Mercedes driver and reigning champ Max Verstappen.

The incident surrounded suggestions from Red Bull that Russell had driven erratically by braking suddenly while sitting behind the safety car after Lando Norris crashed into Oscar Piastri.

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Russell and Verstappen attended a stewards hearing for 45 minutes before leaving together.

However, it took several more hours before the FIA reached its verdict.

A statement released by the FIA showed race stewards were “satisfied” Russell “did not drive erratically by braking”.

One of Red Bull’s complaints claimed Russell “displayed unsportsmanlike intent”.

The FIA stated bluntly Russell’s Car No. 63 did not engage in “unsportsmanlike conduct”.

The FIA also announced several other late penalties.

Kimi Antonelli, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll received warnings for overtaking under the safety car.

Antonelli has retained his third-place finish.

Norris has been given a five-second time penalty for causing his collision with Piastri.

Russell won Monday morning’s race in Montreal after taking pole position.

With the race finishing under a safety car yellow flag, Russell, 27, finished just 0.228 seconds ahead of Verstappen.

The two have been bitter rivals in recent months and the four-time world champion was issued three penalty points on his FIA Super License for driving into Russell in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix.

On Monday morning, Verstappen and Russell traded accusations on team radio after a bizarre tussle behind the safety car where Russell appeared to “brake test” the Dutch driver.

Russell’s sudden braking manoeuvrer resulted in Verstappen driving up alongside him.

Verstappen said on his team radio: “George suddenly just aggressively braked”.

You can watch the incident in the video player above.

Max Verstappen congratulates George Russell. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images.

Max Verstappen drove up alongside George Russell (left). Photo: Sky Sports.

His engineer responded: “Understood. Thank you. We will check for any erratic driving.”

Russell at the same time said on his team radio: “Verstappen just overtook me under the Safety Car.”

Verstappen’s engineer went on to say: “That incident with Russell now being shown on the feeds, Max.

“It looks pretty blatant. Just don’t fall for the gamesmanship. Thank you.”

Horner delayed his post-race media conference as a result of the swirling situation, but eventually confirmed his team was protesting.

“Two protests that we’ve put to the stewards, that we’ve asked them to have a look at,” he said.

“Firstly relating to the erratic driving behind the Safety Car, where George very heavily braked, obviously looking 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’s within our right to obviously protest that, so we’ve lodged the protest, it’s with the stewards now, and we’ll see what they say.”

Horner said comments made by Russell on Sunday (AEST) further suggest the British driver had deliberately tried to goad Verstappen.

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

“I think that it’s inevitable that there was going to be some potential gamesmanship. It’s something that we raised after the drivers’ briefing with the race director, just so that they were mindful of it as well because it’s clear that kind of stuff goes on,

“But Max, I thought he’s been squeaky clean all weekend and drove a very good race today.

“We just said to him [the race director] could they please keep an eye on it because, there’s been, obviously, comments that have been raised in the media, just please keep an eye on it.”

Horner was referencing a light-hearted quip Russell made after taking pole position where he was asked about the upcoming front row battle with Verstappen.

A photo says a thousand words. Photo by Mark Thompson / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP.

Russell joked after he secured pole position: “We’re mates, it’s all good. I’ve got a few more points on my license to play with.”

The Brit later spoke in support of Verstappen: “I don’t think any driver goes out looking to crash into somebody and get penalty points on your license.

“Max is one of the best drivers. There’s no reason for him to race any differently, and I’m not sitting here thinking he’s going to give us more room.”

Verstappen was not happy when asked to discuss the issue after qualifying.

Verstappen has been asked several times this weekend about whether he will change his driving style given the potential of a race ban following his clash with Russell in Barcelona.

Verstappen has a total of 11 penalty points, with drivers handed a one-race ban if they rack up 12 penalty points on their Super Licence in a 12-month period.

Two of those points expire at the end of the Austrian Grand Prix, so he has two races to get through without a major incident before he’s in the clear.

After qualifying second in Canada, Verstappen was not happy when he was again asked about the possibility of clashing with Russell and getting banned.

Verstappen cut off the moderator in the press conference with Russell and Oscar Piastri after qualifying before he could even finish his question about penalty points.

“I don’t need to hear it again,” a frustrated Verstappen said.

“It’s really p***ing me off. I mean, you speaking about it on Thursday, it’s such a waste of time. It’s very childish.

“That why I also don’t want to say too much, because it’s really annoying, this world that we live in.”

Originally published as High drama as Red Bull protest thrown out after Canadian Grand Prix