Despite getting the ‘green light’ from the powers that be, debate over George Russell’s pole-winning lap continues.
“It’s a corner where you can see quite a lot, and I made this huge lift,” said the Mercedes driver in the moments after the session, “I was going to assess the situation as soon as I got to the corner, if the car was there, but as it was a single yellow I was pretty confident there was no danger.
“As soon as I turned into the corner, I already saw the green flag up ahead,” her continued, “and I actually thought the car had continued, because I didn’t see the car, it was so far off the track, but I didn’t see the car whatsoever.
“It was only when I saw the green flag afterward,” he insisted, “I saw it was, you know, well off into the wall. I was glad common sense prevailed there.”
However, in view of the fact that Russell has a certain reputation, always first to quote the rulebook when he feels he has been wronged or lost out, and is a director of the GPDA, the Briton was asked if he was surprised by the fact there were only single yellows.
“I think in that instance a single yellow was correct,” said the Briton in terms of the fact that what was initially a single yellow flag – which serves as a warning to drivers – was changed to double yellow (15) seconds later, after the Mercedes had passed, “because a double yellow is immediate danger. Lifting off 100 meters before a corner, or lifting off for a single yellow, you’re never going to lose control of the car.
“The reason he was in the wall that far away is because he was attacking and lost the car,” he said of Verstappen, “so, you know, I think the single yellow was correct. I think I did everything right to be very much under control, and it’s a very different story to a double.”
“It was unfortunate,” said teammate Kimi Antonelli, who was running ahead of Russell at the time of the incident. “Realistically it was a mistake from my side because I thought I saw the (double) yellow instead it was a single so I completely aborted the lap when I could’ve just done a lift like George did.
“I think I was a tenth slower than George up to that point,” he added, “so it would still have been difficult to get pole, but at least front row was there.”
Though Ferrari boss, Fred Vasseur was quick to accept the fact that Russell had not broken any rules he subsequently admitted that the incident set a worrying precedent.
“First, I’m a bit surprised that they didn’t put double yellow,” the Frenchman told Sky Germany. “When you deploy the medical car, you can imagine that you need to have the double yellow, but it’s another story.
“George did a fantastic lap and nothing to do with the performance of George,” he added. “And then there is a rule that you have to slow down by 5% in the mini sector and we don’t have access to the data. I think that race control did it.
“I trust them,” he said. “If you are not able to trust the race control, it’s a disaster. If they took the decision of no further action, it’s because they checked. The point is for me that I don’t understand why we don’t have a double yellow in this case. I think the negative side of this is that next quali, if you have a crash, everybody will push.”
“I think because there is an option to go for double yellow flag, it’s useful to retain the distinction between what you are allowed to do on a single yellow flag,” said McLaren’s Andrea Stella. “The double itself and the deletion of the lap is a relatively recent change, and I think this rule is very welcome.
“Definitely any driver will have to be absolutely disincentivised to push in a section with a double yellow flag, but if there’s a distinction between double and single yellow, eventually the stewards will have, or the marshals will have retained, or the race director will have deemed that this only requires the single yellow flag, therefore this is left to the judgement of the driver. And if the driver pushes too much, it will be penalised.
“So, I personally think that we are in a good situation from this point of view,” he added.
“From what I saw from the GPS overlays, I think Russell has done a good job of executing a lift,” he said. “I can only see that the speed reduces before braking, losing a little bit of time through corner 9, at the same time losing little enough to actually be in pole position.
“This, I think, is subject to the interpretation of the stewards as to the fact that this action complies with the requirements of a yellow flag, but there is action. And I think we have to recognise that while drivers are incredibly able and good in executing the standard driving, sometimes they are also good at executing some manoeuvres that may be required in yellow flag, may give you justification and a rationale that the stewards can interpret like they did.
“So I think it was a kind of a case on the edge, but no particular concern with the fact that this has been accepted by the stewards.”