Russell assesses Norris/Verstappen incident: 'Max deserved a penalty'
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
George Russell believes both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen should've been penalised for the incident at the United States Grand Prix. The GPDA director puts forward his solution(s) going forward. He is preparing to talk to the FIA.
Russell realises that judging situations consistently is no easy task. "You need to have a regulation, you need to have some sort of guideline, especially when we're having different stewards every single week, who have a slightly different interpretation," said the Briton. "For me having looked back, I thought my penalty was harsh but probably correct. Looking at Lando’s, I think that was probably correct as well, but Max probably should have also got a penalty for running off the track."
Russell highlights what he feels is the problem. "For me, the root cause of the problem is having a circuit that allows you to run wide. And if we take Austria last year as an example, you had [around] 300 track limit problems. They put gravel in and there's no problems. If you put gravel in on that corner, Lando doesn't go off, and overtake, and Max doesn't brake that late and go off as well. So I think we need to tackle the root cause."
What is Russell's solution?
The drivers will meet This weekend in Mexico to discuss this and many other issues. "There's a lot going on at the moment, especially with the swearing situation. I guess between us, we'll talk with the FIA and understand their viewpoint first and then we can judge. At the end of the day the stewards are doing the best job they can. They're trying their hardest and they do have a set of guidelines of which they follow," he added.
"We've spoken about consistency in the past. The only way you're going to have consistency is if you have the same stewards at every single race weekend. And at the moment, they are very experienced, but they are here as almost volunteers. It is not a professionally paid job. And if you look at football as an example, even though there's still controversy, a referee, they are professionals and that is their full-time job. That's where they make their income. And as a sport we are at the moment, that's probably the direction we should be headed," Russell said.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton