FIA Stewards give reasoning for George Russell penalty

Mercedes George Russell was given a five-second time penalty at the start of the United States Grand Prix, and the FIA stewards have given their reasoning.

Feature image credit: By Courtesy of Pirelli

At the United States GP, Russell found himself in trouble with the stewards early on, in a weekend where his finishing position could keeping within, or take him out, of championship contention with his teammate, Kimi Antonelli.

On the opening lap of the race, Russell found himself in the fight for track position amongst the front runners. Tussling for position, the Mercedes ran wide at the end of the back straight, at turn 12, and left the track, rejoining behind Red Bull Racing’s Isack Hadjar and ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri .

As such, the Briton was awarded a five-second time penalty for ‘gaining an advantage.’

When the stewards released their report, they confirmed the usual penalty for this infringement would be a 10-second penalty. However, as it was a lap-one incident, and that Russell was pressuring Hadjar whilst defending from Piastri, the stewards opted to mitigate the penalty down to five second.

Kimi Antonelli claims win at US Grand Prix inches away from title

In their report, they said:

“The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, and in-car video evidence, plus submissions from the teams of Cars 63 and 81 via the FIA Evidence Channel.

“The driver of Car 63 was defending position from Car 81, into Turn 12 and left the track, then proceeded to rejoin in front of Car 81, prior to Turn 13. He retained that position. Accordingly he is determined by the Stewards to have left the track, rejoined it and gained a lasting advantage.

“The normal penalty for this is a 10 second penalty, however the Stewards considered that the driver of Car 63 had previously been pressuring Car 6 and that put Car 81 into an attacking position (and therefore Car 63 into a defending position).

“Further, this was a first lap incident and in our determination, the penalty should be mitigated to 5 seconds.”

Results: United States Grand Prix 2026

As a result of the five-second time penalty, Russell found himself down in the low-point scoring positions, finishing eighth overall and barely keeping his championship hopes alive against his teammate – and championship leader – Kimi Antonelli.

Following the US race, Russell (242pts) remains within championship contention by two points, having needed to remain within 125 points of Antonelli (365pts) after Austin. The two are separated by 123 points heading into Mexico City this weekend.

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.