Red Bull Racing asked FIA race director Rui Marques to look out for any gamesmanship from drivers towards Max Verstappen prior to the Canadian Grand Prix.
Verstappen went into the race just one penalty point away from an automatic suspension, following his collision with George Russell in Spain. The two duly qualified alongside each other on the front row and pole-sitter Russell even referenced how he had more penalty points to play with ahead of the race, and team principal Christian Horner says Red Bull raised the issue with the FIA.
“Is it inevitable that there was going to be some potential gamesmanship? It’s something that we raised after the driver’s briefing, with the race director, just so that they were mindful of it as well,” Horner said, “because, it’s clear that that kind of stuff goes on. But Max, I thought, [was] squeaky clean all weekend and drove a very good race.
“We just said to [Marques], ‘Look, could they please keep an eye on it, because there’s been obviously comments that have been raised in the media. Just please keep an eye on it.’”
In the end Red Bull felt the need to protest Russell’s driving after Sunday’s race, claiming the race winner had engaged in unsportsmanlike behavior when braking behind the safety car and reporting Verstappen overtaking him on team radio.
Despite Verstappen being in position to inherit the victory if Russell was penalized, Horner said there was no request from the Dutchman to lodge the protest, and that he was unaware such a move had been made.
“No, not at all. Max was talking to you guys [media] and he had no idea that [the protest had been lodged]. It’s within a competitor’s right to raise a protest, it’s 2,000 Euros per protest, and we were surprised that they weren’t noted and sent to the stewards. So therefore you have the right as a competitor to do that, and that’s what we [chose] to do.”
