RUSSELL HAS RETAINED HIS MAIDEN FORMULA 1 CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

Russell was mightily impressive throughout his debut weekend in the W11 as he stepped in for Lewis Hamilton, ruled out after testing positive for Covid-19, and looked on course to win in what was a dominant display up against team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

But that dream quickly became a nightmare as Mercedes completely botched a double stack pit stop during the late Safety Car period due to a radio failure within the Silver Arrows garage.

George Russell has retained his maiden Formula 1 Championship points after Mercedes was fined €20,000 for the incorrect use of tyres on his car during the Sakhir Grand Prix.

During a pit stop for both Russell and team-mate Valtteri Bottas under a Safety Car, a radio failure within the Mercedes garage caused confusion during the sequence.

Russell was fitted with part of Bottas’ allocation, and as a result had to return to the pits once again on the following lap to correct the situation.

The FIA outlined that such an offence would normally result in disqualification, however it took into account a number of circumstances when applying the penalty, including the radio failure and Mercedes’ rapid response to rectify the error.

A full statement from the stewards reads: “The Stewards heard from Mr Ron Meadows (team representative) and Mr Nikolas Tombazis (FIA Formula One Technical Delegate).

“As described in the latter’s report (document 34) Car 63 was fitted with front tyres that were allocated to Car 77.

“This was caused by a radio communications technical issue wherein the pit wall’s communication to the pit crew that Car 63 was entering the pits prior to (and not after) Car 77, failed to be received by the crew of Car 63 because at the same time, the driver of Car 63 transmitted over the top of that message.

“This resulted in the front tyres of Car 77 accidentally going onto Car 63. (The cars were ‘double stacked’ at the time.)

“This is clearly a breach of the regulations and would normally involve a sporting penalty up to Disqualification. However, in this case there are mitigating circumstances, additional to the radio issue referred to above.”

RUSSELL HAS RETAINED HIS MAIDEN FORMULA 1 CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS RUSSELL HAS RETAINED HIS MAIDEN FORMULA 1 CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

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