Monaco to forget for Russell
George Russell’s disastrous weekend in Monaco continues. In the crazy chaos that characterized the race in the Principality, the Englishman didn’t even have time to rejoice at Charles Leclerc’s accident on the restart from the Safety Car situation – a knockout that was paving the way for the Englishman to an unexpected duel for the podium with Isack Hadjar – when yet another blow fell on his head on this disastrous day.
The Mercedes Englishman, in fact, during the red flag following Leclerc’s accident and waved because a section of the track was literally falling apart, received notification of a drive-through penalty that was imposed on him for not having served a previous five-second penalty.
One penalty leads to another
Russell, like many other drivers in the race, was penalized for not respecting the pit-lane speed limits. Incredibly, however, the Mercedes team and mechanics did not remember this when Russell returned to the pits for a pit stop under Safety Car conditions and performed the tire change on the W17 without waiting five seconds.
Read more Roll of Honour GP Monaco
The F1 regulations stipulate that the penalty must be served during the first pit stop of the offending driver and if this does not happen – obviously – the sanction becomes much more severe. This is what happened with the English #63 who, thanks to his team, threw away any chance of at least limiting the damage in a weekend that was sportingly disastrous for him.
It should not be forgotten that, before the chaos of Safety Car, red flag and various accidents, Russell had even been lapped on track by his teammate Antonelli.
