Why Russell wasn't penalised for DRS breach in Bahrain GP

The FIA has explained why Mercedes driver George Russell escaped punishment for incorrectly activating his DRS mechanism during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Russell was running in second, well behind leader Oscar Piastri, when he began experiencing electronic issues with his Mercedes, losing brake-by-wire and encountering a variety of other distracting gremlins.

The British driver also experienced an issue with a third-party-delivered transponder that briefly saw him move to the bottom of the leaderboard, which also confused his automatic DRS activation system, which it operates on.

As per normal procedure the FIA authorised Mercedes to use a manual override mode, with Russell advised by the team to use a back-up radio button that also serves as a manual DRS activation button. Russell used the button to call his race engineer but accidentally opened the DRS mechanism despite not being within one second of McLaren’s Piastri, which is not permitted.

But as he immediately backed off the throttle to close it, losing time in the process, the FIA decided that no penalty was warranted, with Russell keeping his second place on the podium.

“At the time the driver was experiencing a brake-by-wire issue and other electronic issues. He was at that time advised to use an auxiliary button in the cockpit which serves as a back-up radio button but also serves as a manual DRS activation button,” the verdict from the FIA stewards read.

Lando Norris, McLaren, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“On the straight between Turns 10 and 11 he tried to radio the team using this button but instead accidentally activated the DRS. The DRS was activated for a distance of 37 metres on a straight of approximately 700 metres. Whilst he gained 0.02 seconds, he gave up 0.28 seconds at the next corner to compensate. This was confirmed by telemetry.

“Accordingly, whilst technically a breach occurred the Stewards decide that as there was no sporting advantage gained, no penalty is imposed.”

There was precedent for the FIA to clear Russell after similar issues at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

In Baku, Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, Williams driver Lance Stroll and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen all incorrectly activated DRS following issues with the detection zones, forcing drivers to operate the system manually. All three drivers were cleared at the time, with Perez keeping his podium spot as a result.