According to Nico Rosberg, George Russell responded that Max Verstappen was “sakky” when he cleaned under the F1 Canada Grand Prix safety car.
Sunday’s 70-lap race in Montreal finished under the safety car after a delayed collision between McLaren drivers Rand Norris and Oscar Piastri.
When the field cruised behind the safety car, Verstappen complained that Russell was “brake test” him. Red Bull protested that the Mercedes driver was accusing him of unstable driving, but this was rejected by the stewards.
However, 2016 F1 World Champion Rosberg felt that Russell had the right to respond to Verstappen’s own actions.
“When you have a safety car (in the back) and Max Verstappen is cheeky and tries to make you nervous by really growing yourself right next to you in that mirror, in the exact spot the mirror is facing you, you don’t like it,” Rossberg told Sky F1.
“It really bothers you as a driver. So deep, deep, to bother you. From there, it’s very natural to say, ‘What do you know? Smooth this.’ ”
“Yes, he wanted to hit the brakes and then return it to Max.”
Wolf slams Red Bull’s “little embarrassing” protest
Mercedes boss Totowolf denounced Red Bull to protest the race results, describing it as “little” and “embarrassing.”
“First of all, we needed to race two hours before Team Red Bull began the protest, and that was what they wanted to do. Honestly, it’s very small, very small,” Wolf told Sky Sports ahead of the Formula One movie premiere in New York City.
“They did it in Miami. Now they’ve launched two protests, and they got one back because it was ridiculous.
“They come up with some weird clauses, what they call clauses. I think the FIA needs to see that.
“You know, you’re the race, you win, you get on track and you lose. It was a fair victory for us.