George Russell demands a “little bit of common sense” from FIA stewards after Fernando Alonso podium drama
George Russell is not pleased with the way the Stewards have handled such penalties in the first two rounds of 2023.
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George Russel, Fernando Alonso
The Saudi Arabian GP caused a lot of confusion after the race. Fernando Alonso lost his podium finish after being given a 10-second time penalty for incorrectly serving a 5-second time penalty. George Russell initially gained from this incident and earned the third spot. However, the British driver returned to fourth place after reversing Alonso’s penalty.
The 25-year-old was asked by Sportskeeda about the penalties for incorrect starting positions. Russell respected the sporting regulations, but the British driver also highlighted the fact that some consideration must take place. George Russell said, “Yeah, I understand why these rules are there. At the end of the day, we’ve got to stick within the guidelines. I think a little bit of common sense needs to be shown.”
The Mercedes driver expressed his opinion about Fernando Alonso‘s harsh penalty as the Spaniard did not gain from the starting position. He explained, “Ultimately, I think he was a bit to the left, was that right? He gained nothing from this. Perhaps a five-second (penalty) is too much.” George Russell further called Alonso’s 10-second penalty “too extreme.” He found the incident to be “frustrating for everybody.”
Discover: Who won the F1 Saudi Arabian GP 2023?
“Find a common center ground,” George Russell on F1 penalties and track limits
Moreover, George Russell admitted that the weekend in Jeddah was riddled with issues over track limits. The 25-year-old continued, “There’s a lot of conversations that were going on this weekend about which lines you could touch, which lines you couldn’t touch especially at the pit exit, and on the pit entry.” This could potentially open up discussions by the drivers with the FIA in the future.
Russell mentioned how multiple drivers lost their lap times in Qualifying, such as Logan Sargeant. He stated, “I said, in qualifying yesterday, we saw a number of cars get laps deleted for touching a bit of the red paint, ending their lap.” The 25-year-old hopes to turn this around with discussions taking place between the involved parties. George Russell concluded, “that was a little bit senseless, really, so I think we all need to come together and just find a common center ground.”
Thus, George Russell was not happy with the way the FIA handled the situation. Albeit, Alonso was given back the third spot a couple of hours later. This incident will remain a major talking point in the coming weeks. The FIA has announced providing clarification about the rule that initially applied a 10-second penalty to the Aston Martin. In a bid for such events to not repeat in the future.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2310 Articles Published)