George Russell believed Charles Leclerc deserved a penalty for his ‘through the gravel’ overtake, which condemned him to fourth place at the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver was starting the Grand Prix in fifth, with hopes of a potential podium, but was forced to accept an uncompetitive fourth place, unable to challenge for third place in the closing stages.
Russell lost a place to Leclerc in the opening lap, his Mercedes unable to fend off the prancing horse on his inside. With Zandvoort making overtaking difficult, the Brit spent the next 23 laps watching Leclerc’s gearbox.
An ideally timed safety car put the Mercedes ahead of Leclerc, allowing Russell to make a charge for fourth.
However, just nine laps later, the Monégasque was back in Russell’s mirrors. The pair went side-by-side round through Turns 10 and 11, with Leclerc making a bold lunge to the apex of Turn 12.
He ran through the gravel, brushing against Russell’s Mercedes and pushing his way ahead. Russell quickly complained that Leclerc had overtaken him off track.
However, after the race, the FIA ruled no further investigation into the incident, leaving Russell frustrated, and expressing his surprise after the race to media including Motorsport Week.
“I just wasn’t expecting it because the natural racing line of this corner is you go up to the gravel, you often see on a qualifying lap, drivers are putting a wheel in the gravel,” he said.
“So, I didn’t push him off; he just obviously overtook me through the gravel.”
Russell noted the damage he sustained, which affected the rest of his race. “In the end, I had one second per lap of damage,” he said.
“So yeah, it would have been a nice overtake from him if the track was three metres wider.”
Russell believed incident was ‘black and white’ under the rules
When he was asked if he believed Leclerc should have received a penalty, Russell’s interpretation was clear.
“He should be,” he said. “The rules say if you’re overtaken on the outside, unless your wheels are alongside the front axle come the apex, the inside driver’s got the right of way.
“As I said, I wasn’t actually trying to push him off. I was just taking my natural line.”
Although Leclerc later crashed out of the Dutch GP, it did little to curb Russell’s frustrations about his race.
With Lando Norris suffering from an engine issue in the final stages of the race, Russell believed he would’ve been able to fight Isack Hadjar for the final step of the podium.
“He obviously crashed out of the race, but for me, it did destroy my race. We probably should have finished 7th or 8th; I was lucky to finish 4th and obviously had no chance to fight for a podium because of the damage I had.”
Before the stewards’ decision had been reached, Russell concluded that he was “intrigued” to hear what they had to say.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s obviously fine margins, but I don’t really know, to be honest, for me, it was quite black and white,” he said.
“It wasn’t an aggressive overtake, it was just an overtake that was off track and resulted in me with a lot of damage, so it’s pretty clear in the regs that’s not allowed, but anyway, we go to the stewards.
“Let’s see what they have to say. I’ll be intrigued to hear.”
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