Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
F1 pundit Jolyon Palmer has called out the FIA for their decision to fine George Russell following the Mercedes driver’s reaction to his retirement at the Canadian Grand Prix.
As his Mercedes W17 came to a halt on the exit of turn eight at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, George Russell furiously launched his headrest out of the car as he took another blow in the F1 standings to teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Is George Russell right to apologise for throwing his headrest after his Canadian GP retirement?
Despite the hard-fought scrap between the two Silver Arrows, Russell had led the majority of the race up until this point, and was looking to eat into the deficit that Antonelli had over him heading into the fifth race weekend of the season.
However, it just wasn’t meant to be for the British driver, with the 19-year-old departing from Montreal with a very healthy 43-point lead over his Mercedes counterpart in the F1 standings.
To make matters worse for Russell, he was subsequently fined for his expression of anger as he clambered out of his cockpit. Despite issuing an apology to the trackside marshals who had to clean up his mess, stewards handed him a €5,000 fine, suspended for 12 months.
On top of that, Russell was subjected to a jab from Red Bull on social media. The Milton Keynes-based F1 team referenced the Briton’s previous comments on Verstappen’s ‘borderline violence’ in a viral post on X (formerly Twitter).
Jolyon Palmer labels the FIA’s punishment for George Russell as ‘nonsense’
During Jolyon Palmer’s analysis of the Mercedes duo’s battle in Montreal for F1TV, the former F1 driver began by questioning whether Russell and Antonelli would have been able to keep up their intense fight if the Briton hadn’t been forced to retire.
He said, “The battery dies on him, and after 30 laps of an amazing scrap between the two Mercedes, I don’t know how long they could have kept that intensity up for. Could they have done the whole race?
Should Toto Wolff stay off the radio when Kimi Antonelli and George Russell battle?
“It seems like a huge amount of work to do just in terms of mental load to be that on it, that close wheel-to-wheel with your title rival, without having some of these marginal things go wrong and having an incident. But they were doing a great job of it.”
The F1 pundit then touched on Russell’s reaction to the sudden retirement, which landed him in hot water with race control in Montreal.
“Russell, fuming, throws the headrest and gets a £5,000 suspended fine, which, for me, is nonsense,” Palmer asserted. “It’s emotion in sport. It’s the biggest moment of his career. He’s been really hard done by.
“Whether or not he launches that headrest, a few meters away from the car, or it stays on the car, it’s not a big deal. I like to see emotion – whether it’s a driver kicking a tyre, whether it’s a driver sometimes hitting a steering wheel, or a halo. It happens.
“These are huge moments. The stress levels are high. His heart rate is through the roof. It’s the biggest moment of his career. It’s normal, and it’s human. I don’t know if he really needed to go and see the stewards for that one, personally.”
- READ MORE: George Russell looked like ‘a ghost’ in the F1 paddock after Canadian Grand Prix retirement
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
