Why George Russell avoided penalty for DRS infringement in Bahrain

Callum McAvoy

Published April 13, 2025 8:09pm Updated April 13, 2025 8:21pm

F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — George Russell crossed the line in second-place in Bahrain (Photo: Getty)

George Russell has avoided a penalty at the Bahrain Grand Prix over a DRS infringement, meaning he holds onto his second-placed finish.

The Mercedes driver drove brilliantly in Sakhir to finish on the podium ahead of Lando Norris, though he was powerless to stop the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri from winning.

Sunday’s race ended with Norris right on Russell’s tail after his Mercedes developed technical problems in the closing laps.

At one stage, the British racer accidentally opened his Drag Reduction System, something that – if done illegally – typically results in a penalty.

But an FIA statement on Sunday evening said that ‘whilst technically a breach occurred’, there was ‘no sporting advantage gained’ and, therefore, ‘no penalty is imposed’.

‘Whilst he [Russell] gained 0.02 seconds, he gave up 0.28 seconds at the next corner to compensate. This was confirmed by telemetry,’ the statement added.

Speaking immediately after the race, Russell explained the unusual incident: ‘We were having all sorts of failures and basically we had to do an overdrive on the DRS and on one lap I clicked the radio button and the DRS opened.

https://twitter.com/fia/status/1911494247271776593

‘So I straight away closed it again, backed off, nothing gained. I lost more than I gained, it was only open for a split second.

‘Kind of goes to show the amount of issues we were having.’

He later told Sky Sports: ‘There was technical problems. I backed off. It was probably open for less than a second, so…

‘I don’t know how it got triggered. There were all sorts of problems going on with the transponder and the signal to the car.

‘I honestly can’t give you an answer because I was losing everything on my steering wheel as well, I had no data. I lost all of that, so I was really compromised in that last stint. It would be exceptionally harsh if something [a penalty] happened.’

Russell joined the McLaren drivers for the podium celebrations but was, unsurprisingly, later summoned to the stewards over the incident.

It was far from the only drama in Bahrain, with Lewis Hamilton pictured rejecting a hug from FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem in the immediate aftermath of the action.