The Red Bull Formula 1 team has lodged a protest against the Canadian Grand Prix winner George Russell over his driving behind a late safety car.
Mercedes driver Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished first and second in Montreal, with Russell comfortably converting his pole into a first victory of the 2025 season.
The race finished under a safety car after a late collision between McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with Norris’ damaged car shredding debris along the start-finish straight.
As the drivers cruised behind the safety car there was some animosity from Verstappen, who felt Russell had been driving erratically by slowing down dramatically, forcing the world champion briefly past while approaching the final chicane.
The incident wasn’t further discussed in the post-race interviews Russell and Verstappen were involved in, but Red Bull eventually decided to launch a protest against Russell. Red Bull boss Christian Horner confirmed it is connected to the safety car incident.
Red Bull also protested against Russell allegedly leaving more than 10 car lengths behind the safety car.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“There have been two protests that we’ve put to the stewards,” Horner explained.
“Firstly relating to the erratic driving behind the safety car, where George very heavily braked, obviously looking at his mirror for Max.
“The second one is very clearly the distance that was left behind the safety car, that was at least three times in excess of the permitted distance.
“So, we’ve lodged the protest, it’s with the stewards now, and we’ll see what they say.
“It’s certainly not personal [against] George. The regulations are very clear about the safety car. If you remember Checo [Perez] back in Singapore ’22 got two penalties for it, so there were very clear precedents.”
Both teams and drivers visited the stewards at 17:50 local Montreal time.
In this article
Filip Cleeren
Formula 1
Max Verstappen
George Russell
Red Bull Racing
Mercedes
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