(Motorsport-Total.com) – Was this penalty too harsh? George Russell lost a potential podium finish in Monaco on Sunday because he was penalized twice by the race stewards – dropping him from third to twelfth place in the final phase of the race.
Read more Russell frustrated: «The penalty is disproportionate to the offense»
During the race, Russell was initially one of the drivers who received a five-second time penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit. He himself is already “not entirely sure why we got a penalty,” Russell told Sky.
“I had activated the pit limiter before the line and only deactivated it after the line. But obviously there’s a software issue, and many drivers got penalties,” Russell recalls. Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, and Pierre Gasly, among others, were also affected.
The time penalty was “not ideal, but not the end of the world either,” Russell said. In fact, he could have served the penalty at his next pit stop at the end of lap 61 behind the safety car, without losing an additional position.
However, the Mercedes mechanics were not aware of the penalty and began working on Russell’s car before the five seconds had elapsed. “That was clearly our mistake,” team boss Toto Wolff apologized, emphasizing: “We need to review our communication.”
Original penalty would not have cost a position
Because originally, Russell should not have stopped for a tire change at all. On the radio, he was explicitly instructed by his race engineer not to pit, but simply to follow the safety car through the pit lane.
But Russell himself overruled the team, which apparently led to the chaos. Nevertheless, the penalty should have been served, Wolff emphasized, “and we didn’t do that.” This subsequently developed into the actual problem.
Because Russell rejoined the track in P5 behind Isack Hadjar after his stop, which would have been the case even if he had waited the required five additional seconds in the pit. The gap to Pierre Gasly behind him was large enough.
However, because serving a penalty during a pit stop is not optional but mandatory, the five seconds were subsequently converted into a drive-through penalty by the race stewards.
And because all gaps in the field were neutralized by the safety car and the subsequent red flag, Russell dropped from third position, where he was after the restart, to 14th place after serving his drive-through penalty.
“The penalty is disproportionate to the offense,” he complained, emphasizing: “Through this software error, I probably gained a tenth of a second in the pit lane – and ultimately lost twelve places.”
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What the regulations and the race stewards say
In fact, however, the race stewards had no other choice but to sanction Russell again for not serving his penalty. Article B1.9.6 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations states unequivocally regarding a five-second penalty that it must be served at the next pit stop:
“With the exceptions of entering the Pit Lane for the sole purpose of following the Safety-Car (Article B5.13.3) or entering the Pit Lane following the red flag during a suspension procedure (Articles B5.14.1, B5.14.2 and B5.14.3), the driver concerned must carry out the penalty the next time they enter the Pit Lane.”
A further paragraph also states: “Any breach or failure to comply with Articles B1.9.6b or B1.9.6c may result in a further penalty, such penalty will supersede and replace the penalty which was subject to the breach or failure to comply.”
In simplified terms, this means that the penalty can be “increased” by the race stewards if it is not served as prescribed. This was undoubtedly the case with Russell in Monaco.
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In the past, this was consistently implemented by the commissioners, which is why they were forced to react this time as well due to precedents. Especially since there were no mitigating circumstances in Russell’s case – quite the opposite.
Because in most cases in the past, the race stewards imposed “only” another ten-second penalty for not correctly serving a penalty. In their official verdict, the commissioners explain why they opted for a harsher penalty for Russell:
“A drive-through penalty is imposed because no attempt was made to serve the original time penalty. This differs from the situation where, for example, a person accidentally touches the vehicle during the time penalty, but no actual work is carried out on the vehicle and the penalty time expires before work begins.”
In comparable cases in the past, teams only made a mistake when serving the penalty, but fundamentally intended to serve it. Mercedes, on the other hand, (accidentally) completely ignored the penalty, which the race stewards sanctioned even more severely.
The consequence for Russell: In the World Championship, he is now already 68 points behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli.
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