“That was not correct. That gives a punishment,” Ralf Schumacher knew at first. George Russell was not made the fight for the podium against Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari pilot defended itself with hands and feet – and over the limit, as the commissioners decided during the race.
Leclerc pulled over relatively late twice when Russell wanted to overtake him at the end of the start-finish line in curve 1. In round 61, the Mercedes pilot initially put back, but already complained to the radio: “That was moving under Braking!”, He scolded.
“I decided and he was pulled over when braking. I almost banged into his rear. It is clearly not allowed,” said his judgment. His racing engineer Marcus Dudley warned him to stay calm and said that he would still get him, but only a round later the same maneuver followed.
Russell started overtaking in curve 1 on the inner track when Leclerc suddenly pulled on his trail and pushed him down. A clear case for Russell: “This is a punishment,” he raged at the radio. “He pulled into me when braking!”
The commissioners agreed and grumbled Leclerc a five-second penalty for dangerous driving style. In the end, however, it had no effect because there was no opponent behind Leclerc for a long time, so that he could keep his fourth place.
Russell: “We are at the absolute limit”
For Russell, the action of his colleague does not work at all: “If you get down at 330 km/h and throw yourself into the curve, you are exactly at the limit of the grip of your car. You can’t just brake and give in to avoid someone because you are already at the absolute limit,” he describes.
“I clearly showed my intention, I stabbed inside – and he went across after he had already decided to brake. According to the rules, that is not allowed,” he warns.
“He did it once – I didn’t like that. The second time I thought: ‘Okay, now I’m just pulling it through,’ ‘, Russell continues. “And he did it again and we clashed.”
This time, however, Russell prevailed and won third place. “I was glad to come over,” he says, “but I think if you see it on TV, you think: ‘Why don’t he simply evade?’ – But as I said, you are at the absolute limit of what the car can do. “
Leclerc: “I always do it like this”
Leclerc himself could not discover a big misconduct: “I knew that I was at the limit. I have no strong opinion about that, but the feeling that I changed the line before braking, then slowed down and the car gave up towards the curve – so I always do it,” he describes the scene himself.
“But I can imagine that George has complained loudly about radio again – that’s nothing new for him,” he waves.
The fact that he got a punishment due to this “petition” does not particularly bother him, “especially not in a race like this. If a safety car had come in the end and I would have lost places because of the five-second penalty, then I would probably have been much more frustrated. But that was not the case.”
Leclerc also received a penalty point for the campaign – it was his first this season.