George Russell avoided a penalty by opening a DRS when not within range of another car between Bahrain Granpuri, solidifying his second place finish.
The Steward investigated after Russell tried to address many of his Mercedes technical issues, including the issue of the Timed Loop, where his car does not register its position beyond the mini sector, while trying to address many of his Mercedes technical issues. Russell stated that DR did not get the time that was accidentally opened because he was trying to manually check the various systems, and the stewards discovered that the use of DR was an infringement, but they agreed that he returned the sport’s advantage and therefore did not apply the penalty.
“The connection between the automated DRS activation system and the car failed due to an issue with a timed loop provided by an external party,” Steward’s decision read. “Therefore, the FIA has approved manual activation of DRS according to 22.1 hour).
“At the time, drivers were experiencing per-brake issues and other electronic issues. He was advised at the time to use auxiliary buttons that act as backup radio buttons in the cockpit but also function as manual DRS activation buttons.
“While between turns 10 and 11 he tried to use this button to radio the radio to his team, but instead accidentally activated the DRS. The DRS was active at a distance of 37 meters on a straight of about 700 meters. He scored 0.02 seconds, but he gave up 0.28 in the next corner, which was confirmed by telemetry.
“Therefore, technically there was a violation, but the stewards decide that there is no penalty as they did not get a sport advantage.”
By avoiding the penalty, Russell was confirmed in second place in the previous race result for Randnoris, stopping the McLaren driver on a closed lap. The finish order leaves Russell six points behind third-placed Max Verstappen in the driver’s championship, with leader Norris 14 points floating around.