Jun.17 (GMM) Purple Bull admits the group 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 traditional heading into flip 1.
“I imply, I’ve obtained a couple of 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 Purple 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 Purple Bull’s post-race protest towards Russell’s security automotive interval behaviour.
Russian commentator Alexey Popov thinks the protest was justified.
“It’s a reality – as a result of he stated so after qualifying – that Russell was actually decided to set Max up just a little. We noticed it when he braked so arduous behind the protection automotive,” he stated.
The stewards interviewed Russell and Verstappen for nearly an hour, which means the official race consequence 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, Purple 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 purpose was fairly clear. I feel 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 pay attention to 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 Purple Bull to protest, Horner answered: “By no means.”
The Purple Bull protest was in the end rejected.
