Red Bull’s protest against George Russell at the Miami Grand Prix dismissed by officials

MIAMI, Florida — Red Bull’s attempt to have Max Verstappen promoted to P3 at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, via a protest lodged against Mercedes driver George Russell, has been dismissed by race officials hours after the checkered flag.

Red Bull lodged a protest against Russell, alleging that the Mercedes driver failed to slow down under a yellow flag during the Miami Grand Prix. Verstappen himself brought the issue to the attention of his team over the radio during the closing stages of the race, and Red Bull lodged the protest shortly after the race ended.

Speaking with the media, including SB Nation, in the Red Bull hospitality space Team Principal Christian Horner made it clear that the regulations require a driver to reduce their speed under yellow flag conditions, and according to the Red Bull boss, Russell failed to adhere to the regulations.

“So, as you’ve probably seen, we’ve registered a protest with the FIA regarding George Russell. Who from the GPS that we can see quite clearly, the lift did not reduce speed,” said Horner to the media, including SB Nation. “So, the regulation is quite explicitly clear that there has to be a reduction in speed, so the car has kept accelerating. It’s just at a slower rate than it would normally. There’s not an actual reduction in speed.”

In their decision Sunday night, race officials indicated that they heard from the involved parties, including Russell as well as Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. During the hearing, Red Bull argued that while Russell “lifted the throttle when the yellow flag was displayed,” the Mercedes driver did not “reduce speed,” and was in violation of the Sporting Regulations. Red Bull further argued that in their view “discernibly reduced speed,” as stated in the regulations, “means passing the yellow flag zone at an absolute speed which is lower than the speed before entering the yellow flag zone.”

Mercedes countered by stating that “common practice accepted by all teams and the FIA was and still is that significantly lifting the throttle in a yellow flag zone is considered as an appropriate reaction and they therefore complied with the relevant regulations.” Furthermore, Russell stated that “he saw the single yellow flag and the stranded car next to the track and therefore significantly lifted the throttle to react to the yellow flag.”

The stewards also reviewed telemetry data, finding that Russell “lifted the throttle when passing the yellow flag zone. The throttle was lifted by approximately 25 percent and this resulted in a reduction of torque of approximately 30 percent.”

The race officials then noted that Article 26.1 a) of the Sporting Regulations “requires the driver to have ‘discernibly reduced speed’ in a yellow flag zone but does not specify if that means reducing the absolute speed or reducing the speed relative to the regular racing speed in the relevant part of the track.”

Finding that Russell’s speed was “considerably slower than the regular racing speed,” race officials dismissed the complaint. They noted that Article 26.1 a) and the “requirement ... concerning the reduction of speed in a yellow flag zone can only relate to a reduction relative to the regular racing speed.”

Since Russell had reduced his speed relative to the regular racing speed, the race officials held that he had complied with Article 26.1 a), and dismissed Red Bull’s protest. Russell was listed in the final race classification as having finished third, with Verstappen in fourth.