Why Russell avoided a penalty and still took Austria GP Pole after Verstappen crash

After a heavy crash like Max Verstappen’s in Q3, it often raises eyebrows when a driver still sets a faster time. In such cases there is usually a double yellow flag or even a red flag, which means the lap must be aborted entirely.

However, in the case of Verstappen’s crash, that wasn’t the situation. If you rewatch Russell’s onboard footage, you’ll notice there was only a single yellow flag. Under a single yellow, a driver must slow down. If a driver reduces speed sufficiently in that sector, they can continue their lap.

That’s exactly what Russell did. He lifted 100 meters before the flag and still ended up setting the fastest time. He did not, however, set the fastest final sector. Because of the visible lift for the yellow flag, he was 0.027s slower in the last sector than on his previous lap. And that was despite his entire lap up to that point being significantly quicker than his prior best.

Russell’s action was quickly shown as “Noted” on screen, but further investigation soon proved unnecessary. The Briton had clearly reduced speed and therefore followed the rules properly.

Russell spoke with great confidence immediately after the session. He was certain he was in the clear. The same sentiment came from Toto Wolff and Frédéric Vasseur. Both team principals had seen that Russell had slowed and thus complied with the rules.

The most convincing response came from Kimi Antonelli. The man who seemed on course for pole all weekend did abort his lap. His words after qualifying were telling.

The Italian told Sky F1: "I don’t know why, but I thought it was a double yellow, so I aborted completely and missed the front row. I shouldn’t have done that. That was my mistake. It would have been very close with George. There was only a tenth between us. He would have been a little bit ahead, but still I would have been front row, so a shame for that."