Russell reprimanded for yellow flag infringement in qualifying · RaceFans

George Russell has avoided a grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags in qualifying.

However the Mercedes driver, who will start the race from fifth on the grid, was reprimanded for the error.

Russell was opening his second flying lap of Q1, his first on soft tyres, with just over seven minutes remaining when the incident occurred. As he exited turn one, Carlos Sainz Jnr directly ahead of him, appeared to miss his braking point for turn two and bailed out of the corner down the escape road.

As Russell prepared to brake for the corner with the Ferrari in the escape road ahead of him, a single yellow flag zone was triggered in track sector three, where the two cars were. Russell continued to push through the exit of the corner and did not appear to lift off in any capacity down the straight on the run to turn three.

Russell was told by race engineer Marcus Dudley “that was a single yellow”, indicating that he should continue to push and complete the lap as it would not be deleted as it would if it had been under double yellow flags. Russell completed his lap, posting a 1’43.139, which would ultimately be his best lap of Q1 that saw him through into the second phase of qualifying in ninth.

After examining video and data from the incident, and speaking to Russell, the stewards ruled he could not have seen the yellow flag or altered his approach to the corner in time. They drew a comparison to a similar incident in practice involving Charles Leclerc, who was given a formal warning.

“Sainz ran into the run-off at turn two. Russell was the next car on track and was fully committed to his braking, and unlike Leclerc, was already turning into the corner, when the yellow flag was displayed on the far right of the run-off.

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“The stewards consider that there was no reasonable way for Russell to have seen that flag and even if he had, he could not have changed his braking.

“Once he rounded the corner, Russell accelerated normally. Unlike Leclerc, however, the illuminated green light panel between turn two and turn three, was a significant distance further down the track and harder to see at the point of acceleration than in the case of Leclerc. But, ultimately, Russell did see the green.”

The stewards also noted that because of the yellow flag, Russell was unable to use his DRS. Given this, and the fact he saw the green flag, they pointed out he should have realised a yellow flag was being shown.

“It is a matter of safety that the drivers understand that when they have seen a car in a run-off, and [a] green light indicates that they are inside of a yellow sector, and [give] some indication, such as a lift or at least limited acceleration, acknowledging that other issues can occur within a yellow zone.”

Taking the mitigating factors into account, the stewards accepted a grid penalty was not required, but said the issue should be discussed by the drivers and race director.

“In this limited set of circumstances, in particular that the yellow flag could not have been seen, the stewards order a driving reprimand rather than a more serious penalty. The stewards recommend that this matter be clarified in the next Drivers’ meeting and note that these penalties should not represent a binding precedent.”

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