Less than halfway through the 2025 Formula 1 season, more post-race protests have been issued than in either of the two previous seasons.
What’s more, all of them have been directed at the same driver by the same team.
Red Bull has brought three protests against George Russell in little more than a month: One in Miami followed by two in Canada last weekend. None produced the desired outcome for the team.
The detail of Red Bull’s second protest in Canada was widely overlooked. It was first indicated in the FIA’s original document last weekend summoning Russell and Mercedes referred to “protests lodged by Oracle Red Bull Racing against the driver of car 63″ (emphasis added).
The FIA later issued a single document detailing why one of Red Bull’s protests had been rejected. This concerned the team’s claim Russell had committed “unsportsmanlike driving” by braking sharply during the Safety Car period.
However their other protest didn’t even get that far. An FIA spokesperson confirmed to RaceFans that Red Bull withdrew an accusation Russell had also broken the rules by failing to remain within 10 car lengths of the Safety Car.
Clearly, Russell had committed no such infringement. Although he had fallen further behind the Safety Car on several occasions, he had done this in order to comply with the lower delta time enforced at the pit lane exit where the track was under yellow flags.
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Protests are one of several ways teams can raise issues with the stewards. In essence, a protest is how a team claims the rules have not been enforced, as opposed to a right of review which is an opportunity to raise overlooked evidence, or an appeal which is a challenge to a decision which has been made.
They are not especially common in F1. Even during the bitter 2021 title fight, no protests were lodged until the final round. The three protests raised over the first 10 rounds of this season are typical of what might normally be seen over an entire championship. The 2020 season saw six, but all bar one of those were part of the same ongoing row:
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Other teams have proven themselves quite happy to go down the legal route when they spy a potential benefit.
But Red Bull have been unusually trigger-happy in this respect lately, and it’s hard not to see a connection to the mutual antagonism between Verstappen and Russell. Each of Red Bull’s protests was triggered by their driver’s complaints on his radio:
| Miami Grand Prix – Lap: 32/57 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Check if Russell lifted, there was a yellow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 33/57 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | VSC deployed Max, VSC deployed. I would say Russell went down to about 90% throttle, Max. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Okay, that’s weird lift. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Yep. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canadian Grand Prix – Lap: 68/70 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | After turn 10 The Safety Car is driving really slow, what is he doing? |
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| Verstappen | Russell slows and Verstappen briefly passes him before dropping behind again George suddenly just aggressively braked. |
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| Lambiase | Understood, thank you. We will check for any erratic driving. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 69/70 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | We can see that on our data stream as well, Max. Thank you for the info. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Russell drops back from the Safety Car, then accelerates That’s more than 10 car lengths also, there. |
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| Lambiase | Okay, we will check that as well, thank you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Yeah, that incident with Russell now being shown on the feeds Max. So, pretty blatant. Just don’t fall for the gamesmanship, okay? Thank you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 70/70 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Russell drops back from the Safety Car, then accelerates Again, more than 10 car lengths, what is he doing? |
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| Lambiase | Thank you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Way more than 10, look at this! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Yes, thank you Max. We’ll have a look. Cheers mate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Verstappen also knows a well-aimed complaint could bring a big pay-off. He was quick to spot Lando Norris failing to slow under yellow flags in Losail last year and whether or not his radio comments prompted the stewards’ action on that occasion, the consequent 10-second stop-go penalty ruined his rival’s race.
Will Red Bull keep on pursuing Russell at every opportunity? That will depend partly on whether he gives them the chance.
Last weekend may lead them to rethink their zeal for litigation, or strengthen their resolve to catch out their rivals – however many €2,000 protest deposits they have to pay.
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