George Russell captured pole position on Saturday at the Canadian Grand Prix, and took the checkered flag under a Safety Car to secure his first win of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
And that win will stand, despite protests filed by Red Bull.
In the closing stages of Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, contact between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri left Norris without a front wing on his MCL39, bringing out the Safety Car. In the laps that followed another incident occurred, with both Russell and Verstappen having much different viewpoints.
In Russell’s view, the Red Bull driver overtook him behind the Safety Car. But according to Verstappen, Russell suddenly hit the brakes.
You can see the incident in question in this split-screen format provided by F1:
In addition, radio messages between Verstappen and Race Engineer Gianpiero “GP” Lambiase show that Verstappen was frustrated several times during those laps, pointing out that Russell had dropped more than ten car lengths behind the Safety Car.
Red Bull filed “protests” against Russell shortly after the race, and a hearing was conducted at 5:50 p.m. local time.
However, those protests were dismissed by race officials, and Russell’s win has been confirmed. The first confirmation came from Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, who posted on social media his summary of the race, noting Verstappen’s second-place finish:
Then came word from the stewards, who held that the protests were not “founded.”
In a lengthy decision, race stewards noted that Red Bull raised several allegations against Russell, including the claim that he “braked unnecessarily,” that he “displayed unsportsmanlike intent” when he told Mercedes that Verstappen had overtaken him, that he braked to “force [Verstappen] to overtake to force an infringement by [Verstappen],” that Russell complained over the radio in the “hope that [Verstappen] would be investigated,” and that it was “obvious” that the race would end under a Safety Car, so it was “unnecessary” for Russell to maintain heat in his tires and his brakes.
However, after hearing from both Russell and Tim Malyon of the FIA, the protests were dismissed. Stewards accepted Russell’s “explanation of the incident” and were “satisfied that [Russell] did not drive erratically by braking where he did or to the extent he did.” Stewards were also not convinced that by “simply reporting” to Mercedes that Verstappen had overtaken him, that Russell had “engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Furthermore, the stewards held that “by braking where and when he did and to the extent he did, [Russell] did not engage in unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Russell retains P1 as a result. You can read the full decision at Document 73, here:
Note: Apple News users will need to click the above link to read the decision.
As such, the results of the Canadian Grand Prix are now final, with Russell retaining the win, followed by Verstappen. Kimi Antonelli rounds out the top three.
