“It won’t be entertaining for anyone”– George Russell insists too many penalties will spoil fun

“It won’t be entertaining for anyone”– George Russell wants the governing body to keep a low amount of penalties in F1 to maintain the fun.

In the last four races, the penalties by stewards have been flying down, with the latest being Lewis Hamilton’s 10-second penalty after a collision with Max Verstappen.

The collision between the two was classified as a racing incident, except for Red Bull. Seeing this, Williams’ George Russell wants to have fewer penalties to keep up the fun.

“That’s what we were arguing [the penalty],” he said when asked by Motorsport.com about his first-lap incident. “Rubbin’s racing, as they say, I think it’s always good for the fans and even for the drivers to have close, hard racing.

“So I think when there are so many penalties being dished out, it does change the views of the drivers slightly, how you approach it, and nobody wants to sit there, and everybody be cautious, because it won’t be entertaining for anyone.

“It’s only in the last two events where penalties really ramped off. None of us wants to see penalties dished out week in, week out. So yeah, we need to understand their views on this.”

“It’s always fine margins between whether it’s a penalty or not. And maybe it’s just a coincidence these last two races that there’s been more than normal.”

The penalty for Carlos Sainz incident is harsh.

During the first sprint race of F1, Russell suffered a lock-up heading into Brooklands on the first lap of sprint qualifying, causing him to go too deep into the corner and tag Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

The Spaniard was forced to avoid the action by going on the grass, dropping right down on the pecking order, which forced the stewards to find Russell’s fault and was harsh in Russell’s opinion.

“I thought [the penalty] was a little bit harsh,” Russell said. “It was one of those first lap incidents, really, lots going on. You know, I had a little small lock-up; there was nothing malicious.

“I wasn’t trying to squeeze him or anything. And I think if it were any other corner, he’d have just carried on, potentially even in front of me. So we’re told that the consequences of an action are never taken into consideration.

“But it felt like in this instance it was. But I respect the decision. At the end of the day they’re the rule makers, so we’ve got to stand by their views.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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