George Russell’s Canadian GP win in doubt after Red Bull “erratic driving” protest

The Red Bull Formula 1 team has lodged a protest to the FIA race stewards against George Russell after the conclusion of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished first and second in Montreal, with Russell comfortably converting his pole into a first victory of the 2025 season.

The race finished under a safety car after a late collision between McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with Norris’ damaged car shredding debris on the main straight.

As the drivers cruised behind the safety car, there was some animosity from Verstappen, who felt Russell had been driving erratically by slowing down dramatically, forcing the world champion to overshoot him approaching the final chicane.

The incident wasn’t further discussed in the post-race interviews Russell and Verstappen were involved in, but Red Bull eventually decided to launch a protest against the Mercedes driver, which team boss Christian Horner confirms is connected to the safety car incident.

Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images

The team also protested Russell for allegedly leaving more than 10 car lengths behind the safety car.

“There have been two protests that we’ve put to the stewards,” Horner explained. “Firstly, relating to the erratic driving behind the safety car, where George very heavily braked, obviously looking at his mirror for Max.

“The second one is very clearly the distance that was left behind the safety car, that was at least three times in excess of the permitted distance. So, we’ve lodged the protest, it’s with the stewards now, and we’ll see what they say.

“It’s certainly not personal [against] George. The regulations are very clear about the safety car. If you remember Checo [Perez] back in Singapore ’22 got two penalties for it, so there were very clear precedents.” 

Both teams and drivers visited the stewards at 17:50 local Montreal time.