Red Bull protest Russell victory, Verstappen explains 'confusion'

Red Bull have lodged a protest against George Russell after the Canadian Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen offered his views on the infringements behind the Safety Car.

According to a statement by the governing body of Formula 1, the FIA, the Milton Keynes-based outfit are protesting "against the driver of Car 63", which is Russell's racing number.

Representatives of the drivers and teams have reported to the race stewards where they will provide arguments for and against any penalties that could be handed out to Russell.

Russell crossed the line first after 70 laps around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, dominating proceedings ahead of Verstappen who was unable to mount a challenge for the lead on the British driver.

Verstappen Clears The Air

A crash between the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri resulted in race-ending damage for the former, and brought out the Safety Car.

While cruising behind the Safety Car, Verstappen briefly overtook Russell as the latter suddenly slowed down unexpectedly. This is against the rules, but Verstappen was quick to blame the race leader for the infringement.

• Read Also: Canadian GP: Russell wins under Safety Car as McLaren duo clash

He said over the team radio: "George suddenly just aggressively braked."

Russell, trying to get the stewards to award Verstappen a penalty for the dubious overtake, stated to his race engineer: "Verstappen just overtook me under the safety car."

Once the adrenaline had worn off after the Grand Prix, Verstappen explained his view on the incident to Sky Sports F1.

He said: "I think we were both trying to say to the Safety Car to speed up because he was only going 120kp/h, but maybe the Safety Car was doing that to give a bit more time to maybe get a race lap in.

"Then I think George was trying to speed up to the Safety Car. I was trying to do the same, and once he tried to speed up the Safety Car, he backed out and then caused a bit of confusion," added Verstappen.

A Solid Race But No Pace

Speaking on the rest of the race, Verstappen stated that while he and the team executed a good strategy, victory never looked possible.

The defending Champion continued: "I would say as a team this weekend we did a good job.

"There were no mistakes really. We had a solid car I think. Just in the race we didn’t really have that pace. Again, a bit too much tyre degradation in the first few stints. We drove quite a defensive race.

"We had to be very aggressive with our stops and I honestly thought that last stop was very aggressive and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it to the end with good tyres. Luckily, on the lower fuel load it looked a bit more under control so that was positive," concluded Verstappen.

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