Russell escapes penalty over yellow flag incident

George Russell escaped a grid penalty at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after the stewards investigated a potential yellow flag infringement involving the Mercedes driver during qualifying.

Russell qualified fifth for Sunday’s race but was called to the stewards after the session to explain why he failed to slow in an area of the track where yellow flags were being flown.

Single waved yellow flags are waved to warn drivers of an incident on track and a failure to slow usually results in a three-place grid penalty.

Due to mitigating circumstances, however, Russell was only given a driving reprimand instead of a penalty.

Russell was entering Turn 2 when yellow flags were flown to warn oncoming drivers of Carlos Sainz‘s Ferrari in the runoff zone.

The stewards determined that because Russell was already committed to the corner, he could not slow in time.

The stewards made a comparison with an incident involving Charles Leclerc during Friday practice in Baku, in which the Ferrari driver also escaped the investigation with just a reprimand.

“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 2 and Turn 3, 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.

“Russell also did not get the benefit of the DRS in that zone because it was automatically switched off, slowing his lap.

“The Stewards pointed out in the Leclerc decision many mitigating factors. In this case, the Stewards believe there is further mitigation.

“However, it is a matter of safety that the drivers understand that when they have seen a car in a runoff, and green light indicates that they are inside of a yellow sector and that some indication, such as a lift or at least limited acceleration, acknowledging that other issues can occur within a yellow zone.

“Thus, 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.”