George Russell is under investigation after finishing second in the Bahrain Grand Prix, for potentially using DRS when it should have been deactivated.
The stewards have summoned him and a Mercedes team member to meet them at 8:45pm local time over his “alleged usage of the DRS system outside the pre-defined activation zones.”Drivers are only permitted to activate DRS during the race when they are within one second of the car in front at certain pre-defined points on the track. Ordinarily drivers are unable to activate DRS when they are not close enough as it is detected by the timing system.
However a problem developed regarding the timing system on Russell’s car during today’s race. This was the reason why Russell’s name periodically dropped down the order on Formula 1’s official timing screens.
As a result, Russell’s team told him he had to rely on them for guidance on when he should use DRS. He spent much of the second half of the race well over a second behind leader Oscar Piastri.
The Mercedes driver did not believe he had activated his DRS during the race. “I wasn’t using DRS, I was ahead,” he told Sky.
Russell’s problem also affected those trying to race him, such as Lando Norris, who caught the Mercedes in the final laps of the race. Norris’s race engineer Will Joseph told him he must avoid using DRS when he was not within a second of the Mercedes. “We can only use DRS when we’re 100% sure we’re within it,” said Joseph.
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As the system is ordinarily automated, few drivers have committed the infraction of using DRS when they should not. One exception occured in 2013, when Fernando Alonso activated his DRS when it should have been disabled three times during the Hungarian Grand Prix. His Ferrari team was fined €15,000 (£12,945) for the infringement.
In 2018 Sergio Perez also avoided a penalty for activating his DRS when it should have been disabled during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Update: Russell keeps second place after rare “no penalty” decision for DRS infringement
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Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2025, 18:21
The DRS system may be ordinarily automated, but still always manually activated & while Russell’s situation was that DRS got activated by itself when he pressed the radio button, he at least immediately deactivated & even lifted off, so I’d be surprised if he receives a sporting penalty for a clear force majeure situation.
Ultimately, Norris also had a DRS glitch towards the end as his pre-indication light remained lit throughout the track even though it should only turn within detection & activation starting point intervals, so a weird system glitch.
All in all Russell’s timing transponder issue was weird & unusually lengthy, even though each car always carries two timing transponders.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th April 2025, 19:10
To me it looked like there was something going on with the electronics. We had the issue with Russel, as you mention the thing with Norris, and there were also a few laps where it seemed the times weren’t updated, and it took a while to register the pass from Norris on Leclerc as well as a few other passes earlier.
I hope Russel doesn’t get penalised for having a glitchy electronics.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2025, 19:13
Yes, a more or less a univeral timing system issue that especially affected Russell who didn’t receive any sector times for the last 20 laps, albeit he still received lap times for each one as usual, & gaps were also slow to update.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2025, 19:16
I forgot to touch on the first time around that I’d totally forgotten Alonso’s & Perez’s misuse situations in the 2013 Hungarian & 2018 Azerbaijan GPs, although I recalled Alonso’s DRS malfunction in the 2013 Bahrain GP, which meant it remained activated instead of deactivating under braking.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
14th April 2025, 6:36
There is clearly precedent for not issuing a sporting penalty for this offence, as indicated by the Alonso situation at Hungary 2013. As such, cancelling the penalty altogether for an activation that only occurred due to technical failure makes sense. (I had thought there was a good chance of a 5-second penalty and some risk of disqualification, but it looks like the FIA does not regard this the same way as, say, missing the pit limiter button – which is intuitive).