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Red Bull's post-race protest against Mercedes driver George Russell was dismissed by the FIA, which allowed him to keep his race victory at the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix. The British driver started the race in Montreal from pole position ahead of Max Verstappen and championship leader Oscar Piastri and was able to keep his position off the line.
Apart from some early pressure from the four-time F1 world champion, Russell and the German team had a pretty smooth afternoon at the iconic Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday, June 15. However, the Austrian team was not happy with Russell's antics during the final few laps of the race behind the safety car.
Red Bull protested to the governing body that George Russell was unnecessarily braking and displayed unsportsmanlike conduct after the latter complained on his team radio about Max Verstappen for overtaking him behind the safety car.
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However, the Mercedes driver in his defense explained to the race stewards that he was trying to generate tire temperatures and keep the gap to the safety car. The FIA was satisfied with his and Mercedes' explanation for the incident and dismissed the protest by Red Bull. In their statement, the stewards said:
"We accept the driver of car 63’s explanation of the incident, and we are satisfied that the driver of car 63 did not drive erratically by braking where he did or to the extent he did. We are not satisfied that by simply reporting to his team that car 1 had overtaken that he engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct."
The victory in Canada was George Russell and Mercedes' first win of the 2025 season and first since Las Vegas at the end of last year.
George Russell reflects on his satisfying win in Montreal
Mercedes driver George Russell stated that he felt "great" after delivering the victory for the German team and hailed them for their consistent performances in the 2025 season.
In the post-race press conference, the 27-year-old delved into his performance and said:
"Yeah, it's been great to get the win, you know, as a team, we've been performing so well this year. Up until the last triple header, we'd maximized every single race weekend, whether, you know, that was the P2 in Bahrain or the other podiums we had.
"But coming into Canada, we knew we did have the potential to fight for pole and for the race win, and, ultimately, it came down to that quali lap yesterday. There was obviously not much movement in terms of positions shuffling around but really pleased with the job."
George Russell earned the win in Canada after his stunning lap in the Q3 session and his blistering start off the line, which enabled him to control the pace out front.
