'The stewards inexplicably gave Russell a penalty for incident with Perez'

Jolyon Palmer believes the stewards were wrong to give George Russell a time penalty at the Austrian Grand Prix. According to the former Formula 1 driver, Sergio Perez had enough space on the outside to overtake.

On the opening lap of the race at Spielberg, Perez tried to overtake Russell on the outside at turn four. This went wrong when Russell hit the Mexican's car with his left front wheel, forcing Perez into the gravel. The Red Bull driver was able to continue his race, but had to park his car in the garage. The damage was so extensive that he was unable to keep up with the pace of the field.

On YouTube, Palmer analyses the incident. "The stewards, in my mind, inexplicably gave Russell a penalty. I think that’s because of the outcome rather than the actual infringement. I think that’s because you’ve got one driver spinning off backwards in the gravel, and you’ve got Russell on the inside who managed to carry on. That must be the reasoning of the stewards."

'Perez had a lot of space on the outside'

"He gets onto the curb, and it just causes him a slight moment of understeer into Perez. Look how much space Checo has on the outside. He can use a load more space trying to get this move done. He’s trying to pinch across towards the inside of Russell. For me, this is kind of a similar incident to Albon, and it’s a racing incident where both have kind of run into each other here. It’s a risky move, and it hasn’t paid off. I think the stewards called it wrong," Palmer continues.

Russell was given a five-second time penalty for the incident and eventually crossed the finish line in fourth place. Palmer believes the incident changed the outcome of his race. He lost a lot of time changing the front wing. In 2020, Alexander Albon and Lewis Hamilton had a similar incident in Austria.