Red Bull fans claim to have 'proof' that George Russell should have lost Canadian GP win despite FIA verdict

Red Bull fans claim to have found proof that George Russell should have been stripped of his Canadian Grand Prix win.

Russell and second-placed driver Max Verstappen visited the stewards at the end of the race in Montreal after Red Bull launched two protests against the result.

They claimed that Russell had been 'driving erratically under Safety Car' and 'displaying unsportsmanlike behaviour' on lap 68 of the Grand Prix.

The safety car, driven by Bernd Maylander had been deployed on lap 67 following a high-speed collision between McLaren team-mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, which showered debris across the circuit and forced Norris to retire.

The Grand Prix subsequently ended under the safety car, but the controversial moment occurred when Russell braked on the back straight and appeared to fall back further than the allotted 10 car lengths behind Maylander.

Two opposing views on this moment between George Russell and Max Verstappen 👇#F1 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/nqcypxzjWH

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 15, 2025

Verstappen claimed over team radio that Russell 'suddenly just aggressively braked'.

The Mercedes driver, meanwhile, noted that Verstappen had overtook him as a result - something which is banned under safety car conditions - with Red Bull citing that comment in their 'unsportsmanlike behaviour' protest.

However, the FIA stewards rejected Red Bull's protest, stating: "We accept the driver of Car 63 [Russell]'s explanation of the incident and we are satisfied that the driver of Car 63 did not drive erratically by braking where he did or to the extent he did.

"We are not satisfied that by simply reporting to his team that Car 1 had overtaken that he engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct.

"The Protest is rejected as it is not founded."

However, Red Bull fans have brought up a previous decision by the FIA stewards that they believe shows that Russell should have, in fact, received a post-race penalty.

At the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix, Sergio Perez was given a five-second penalty by the FIA for failing to be the required distance behind the safety car on two occasions during the race.

The Red Bull driver was given a reprimand for his first offence, with the five-second penalty then given for ignoring the prior warning.

Past precedent from the FIA and the conditions were much worse..... https://t.co/dqyBJ23Fz8

— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) June 15, 2025

Perez argued that the wet conditions during that particular Grand Prix made it 'very difficult' to follow the safety car and the FIA used that as mitigating circumstances, but still imposed a reprimand and then a later penalty.

It was also noted that, in Qatar last season, Russell received a five-second penalty for a safety car infringement, in which he was over 10 car lengths back.

However, there were several reasons why Russell was not given a penalty and was not stripped of his Canadian Grand Prix win.

As well as the above FIA statement, onboard footage showed Russell gesticulating towards Maylander as he believed he was driving too slowly.

The Mercedes driver argued he then broke to allow the safety car to build a gap, and for him to increase temperature in his own tyres and brakes.

He also did not apply 'severe' brake pressure in slowing down, and Mercedes telemetry showed that Verstappen had applied similar brake pressure on the same straight at a different interval.

In terms of the 10 car lengths rule, it is likely that the FIA drew on previous similar instances.

At the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was investigated for exceeding the 10 car lengths limit.

The FIA concluded, however, that 'the correct gap was restored well prior to the restart'. There was no restart in Canada but TV footage showed that the gap between Russell and Verstappen was indeed quickly restored.