BREAKING: George Russell, Pierre Gasly, and Esteban Ocon handed 2-place grid penalty for impeding in pits

The FIA has handed George Russell, Pierre Gasly, and Esteban Ocon a grid penalty of 2 places in the F1 Brazil GP. The Mercedes driver and Alpine duo were found guilty of driving slowly in the pit exit and not keeping their car as far left as required as per the director’s notes.

George Russell will now start Sunday’s main race from P8 instead of P6. Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly drop to P14 and P15 respectively.

Pierre Gasly complained about Russell’s “unsafe” driving in the pits during Q1 on the radio. The Alpine driver complained:

“Jesus Christ. Fuc**ng dangerous”

However, the Frenchman was found guilty of the same offense later. The FIA included a new provision this weekend that allowed the drivers to build a gap coming out of the pit lane after last weekend’s mishap.

However, it also notified the drivers to keep their cars on the extreme left which allowed others to pass through. The trio was found guilty of not following that protocol.

Russell and Mercedes were off to a strong start in the qualifying. The Mercedes driver clinched the top spot in the Q1 of qualifying, beating Max Verstappen by almost one-hundredth of a second. He qualified P8 in Q2 before setting the sixth-fastest time in Q3 and starting alongside teammate Lewis Hamilton.

However, the 2-place grid penalty will now demote last season’s Brazil GP winner to P8 behind Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.

George Russell was shocked at Brazil GP’s sudden weather change

Mercedes driver George Russell was shocked at the sudden weather change at Interlagos. The qualifying was red-flagged midway through Q3 as a result.

Max Verstappen won the pole position thanks to his quick thinking. Charles Leclerc grabbed 2nd position whilst surprise package Lance Stroll finished P3 in front of his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso.

Talking to Sky Sports after the qualifying, the 1x Grand Prix winner said:

“Firstly, this is absolutely crazy. I've never, ever seen a change of weather so drastically like that. I was really disappointed with my lap. I was just sliding around, I had no grip,”

Russell further added:

“I didn't see that much rain in my visor. I actually wanted to pit because I was confident I was gonna be last.”

Shortly after the qualifying was red-flagged, shocking footage of the damage done by the sudden weather change emerged. The roof of the circuit’s grandstand collapsed on the last corner of the race track.

Hopefully, the weather conditions improve for tomorrow’s sprint qualifying and race as well as for Sunday’s main race. It will be interesting to see if George Russell can fight back to climb up the ladder and finish higher.