Jun.17 (GMM) Pink Bull admits the crew suspected George Russell might play video games with Max Verstappen in the course of the Canadian GP.
Following Verstappen’s extremely controversial conflict with Russell in Barcelona a fortnight earlier, the pair lined up on the entrance row in Canada – with the quadruple world champion teetering on the point of a race ban.
Russell hinted he would have his elbows out greater than normal heading into flip 1.
“I imply, I’ve obtained just a few extra factors on my license to play with,” the Mercedes driver stated.
Flip 1 was uneventful for the pair – not like a subsequent security automotive interval. At one level, Verstappen’s Pink Bull surged previous Russell behind the protection automotive, with every accusing the opposite of a transgression.
After the race, the pair walked to the stewards room collectively because the FIA thought-about Pink Bull’s post-race protest in opposition to Russell’s security automotive interval behaviour.
Russian commentator Alexey Popov thinks the protest was justified.
“It’s a truth – as a result of he stated so after qualifying – that Russell was actually decided to set Max up a bit. We noticed it when he braked so exhausting behind the protection automotive,” he stated.
The stewards interviewed Russell and Verstappen for nearly an hour, that means the official race outcome was not rubber-stamped till 5 hours after the chequered flag.
“This type of delay should change for the long run,” Bild newspaper insists.
In the meantime, Pink Bull boss Christian Horner confirmed that the protest was lodged to make clear Russell’s security automotive interval behaviour.
“You possibly can already hear it on Saturday when George was speaking to the press,” he stated. “His objective was fairly clear. I believe it was inevitable that there could be some video games performed.”
Horner revealed he even raised the matter of potential anti-Verstappen shenanigans with the race director “after the drivers’ briefing” – lengthy earlier than the race.
“We wished them to concentrate on it, as a result of it’s fairly clear that these sorts of issues occur,” he stated. “We stated ‘Please take note of this, as a result of there have been some feedback made within the media’.”
When requested if Verstappen urged Pink Bull to protest, Horner answered: “In no way.”
The Pink Bull protest was in the end rejected.
