George Russell was slapped with two penalty points by the FIA following Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, with the Briton having been judged to have re-joined the circuit unsafely.
The Briton can have no argument with the penalty given that he collided with Sergio Perez whilst attempting to get back into the race, following a spin at Mirabeau.
Russell had been enduring an “exceptionally boring race” until the latter stages, when a sudden downpour caused complete chaos.
The Mercedes driver started the race in eighth and remained there for the bulk of the sixth race of the 2023 season, until some of the drivers ahead of him made their mandatory pit-stop.
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After overtaking those who pitted, Russell found himself in third; however, the Briton still had a pit-stop to make.
It appeared though, that luck was on the 25-year-old’s side, as the entire field had to pit for Intermediate tyres, following a sudden downpour.
Due to the downpour, Russell was able to switch straight from his initial set of tyres to a set of Intermediates, meaning he made just the one pit-stop whilst those around him were forced to make two.
He was looking set to claim his first podium of the season, until he ran into the escape road at Mirabeau on his out-lap.
Russell locked-up at Turn 5 and had nowhere else to go other than the escape road, where he fell behind Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton.
When it came to rejoining the circuit, Russell did so clearly in an unsafe manner, as he seemingly by accident cut across the front of Perez, resulting in a heavy collision between the pair.
Somehow, both drivers escaped seemingly without damage; however, Russell was slapped with a five-second time penalty and two penalty points as a result.
The time penalty had no impact on Russell’s finishing position due to Charles Leclerc having boasted disappointing pace in sixth, leaving the Briton to finish fifth.
Russell was absolutely devastated after the race having come so close to a “guaranteed” podium, with him having recognised that perhaps he should’ve been “focusing more”.
“It was an exceptionally boring race until the rain came down, it sort of came out of nowhere as it wasn’t really on the forecast,” Russell told media, including RacingNews365.com.
“I’m really kicking myself because P3 was almost guaranteed after not pitting [in dry conditions].
“I came out, there was a yellow flag, I backed off, and as soon as I touched the brakes, I locked up and followed Stroll up the escape road.
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“That’s probably a lesson that when you’re not on it, and you’re not focused, you make the mistakes.
“Probably if there wasn’t a yellow flag there, I would have just been focusing more and I wouldn’t have gone off and cost the team a comfortable P3.
“I definitely damaged the car a bit. I wasn’t sure that it was going to be able to continue, but it kind of sorted itself out as the lap progressed.”