George Russell has kept his second place in the Bahrain Grand Prix despite the stewards confirming he activated his Drag Reduction System when he should not have.
The stewards took the unusual step of issuing no penalty of any kind despite ruling that an infringement had occured.They confirmed Russell had to operate his DRS manually because of a fault in the timing system which prevented his car’s position being tracked. This is needed in order for the system to judge whether Russell was close enough to another car to use DRS.
Russell was also experiencing other problems with his car at the time and as a result accidentally activated his DRS at one point, the stewards explained.
“The connection between the automated DRS activation system and the car failed due to issues with a timing loop provided by an external party. Therefore the FIA authorised manual activation of the DRS in accordance with Article 22.1 h).
“At the time the driver was experiencing a brake-by-wire issue and other electronic issues. He was at that time advised to use an auxiliary button in the cockpit which serves as a back-up radio button but also serves as a manual DRS activation button.
“On the straight between turns 10 and 11 he tried to radio the team using this button but instead accidentally activated the DRS.”
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According to the stewards, telemetry showed Russell only gained a very small amount of time and immediately took action to correct it by slowing down.
“The DRS was activated for a distance of 37 metres on a straight of approximately 700 metres. Whilst he gained 0.02 seconds, he gave up 0.28 seconds at the next corner to compensate. This was confirmed by telemetry.
“Accordingly whilst technically a breach occurred the stewards decide that as there was no sporting advantage gained, no penalty is imposed.”
Unusually, despite confirming the rules had been breached, the stewards chose to issue no penalty of any kind, rather than a minor or inconsequential sanction such as a reprimand, warning or small fine.
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Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2025, 20:20
Russell activates DRS via a yellow button on the top-left corner on the front side (the same with Antonelli & Hamilton throughout his Mercedes stint), which already works manually per se, so an auxiliary switch working as a backup option for radio & DRS activation is, I assume, on the backside.
The DRS system itself may be automated, but the activation always happens manually anyway, be that via a button or a switch, so the wording is misleading.
A good move by the stewards since the matter was clearly a force majeure out of his control rather than a voluntary activation like in Alonso’s & Checo’s misuse cases.
Ben
13th April 2025, 20:25
That’s all that needs to be said for no penalty. Not a Russell or Mercedes fan, but you can’t punish a team or driver for an external error.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2025, 20:39
Indeed, although I don’t know what the external party to teams is if the timing system is neither FIA’s or FOM’s (if not both together) responsibility.
Dex
14th April 2025, 0:30
True, you shouldn’t, and it’s good that they haven’t. But it wouldn’t be the first time if they did.
AlexS
14th April 2025, 22:35
Sainz Ferrari was punished for Las Vegas pipe…
Jon
13th April 2025, 20:25
Another reason we should have races without drs.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2025, 20:37
Well, that’ll indeed happen after this season when DRS will be gone altogether.
Ryan
13th April 2025, 20:38
To be fair, Checo also did not receive a penalty for his DRS infringement a few years back in Baku…..
Jere (@jerejj)
14th April 2025, 6:19
Indeed, nor did Stroll & Magnussen, who also briefly misused DRS in the 2018 Azerbaijan GP, all three because they received their respective activatable indication light outside activation zones to which they reacted subconsciously & by muscle memory rather than because DRS activated for them by itself because of trying to use the radio.
PeteB (@peteb)
13th April 2025, 21:29
Seems fair to me. If telemetry shows that he gave the time back and it didn’t stop him from being overtaken then there is no sporting advantage and considering he was having multiple issues, there is no reason to punish him.
Kringle
13th April 2025, 21:47
Alternative headline:
World First – Common Sense Prevails
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
13th April 2025, 23:40
Exactly, stuff happens. He didn’t gain an advantage, he tried to correct it whilst dealing with something he probably isn’t well versed in (I still don’t understand what he was dealing with, but I’m sure we’ll find out). 37 metres in an F1 car is a blink of an eye. He was dealing with something complicated, pressed a button he thought would one thing but did another.
I would go so far as to say all teams would actually agree on common sense prevailing, for the first time in a very long time.
BasCB (@bascb)
14th April 2025, 13:39
If only we got that one more often in F1, right. Glad they concluded it like this, to give him a penalty for what happened would have really been incredibly harsh and unfair.
MacLeod (@macleod)
14th April 2025, 7:54
While is’t good George didn’t got penalized the team should get a reprimand as it was their car (not sure it was the transponder of some Electric fail) which brought the FIA to switch off the auto DRS system.
Following the rules should be done while excluding the driver for a fault which the team was responsible for otherwise in the future can get things screwedup.
A.Barrister
14th April 2025, 17:37
While Mercedes may not have gained, did the transponder issues prevent the Ferrari’s from being able to activate their DRS? If the issue was with the Mercedes car’s transponder, I still think a penalty is in order, due to it having a negative effect on another car, and “gaining an advantage” by preventing another car from using DRS.
AlexS
15th April 2025, 8:58
Stewards seem are very willing to be very discretionary in some situations and not in others despite being very similar.