{"id":199517,"date":"2025-06-20T09:34:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T09:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/199517\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T09:34:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T09:34:16","slug":"red-bulls-canadian-gp-protest-should-spark-f1-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/199517\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull\u2019s Canadian GP protest should spark F1 reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Bull\u2019s decision to appeal the result of the Canadian Grand Prix drew widespread criticism, with Mercedes<\/a> team principal Toto Wolff branding it \u201cpetty\u201d and \u201cembarrassing.\u201d The ensuing delay in confirming the race result drew negative reactions from both fans and the media alike.<\/p>\n

It took more than five and a half hours for George Russell<\/a>\u2019s victory to be officially confirmed by the FIA, after he was cleared of any wrongdoing by the stewards.<\/p>\n

By that point, Max Verstappen<\/a> had already left Canadian airspace \u2013 choosing not to wait and see if he might inherit the win from the Brit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Red Bull\u2019s protest centred on claims that Russell had driven \u201cerratically\u201d behind the safety car and that his heavy braking amounted to \u201cunsportsmanlike behaviour.\u201d<\/a> Both arguments were dismissed by the stewards.<\/p>\n

However, it was the delay in reaching that decision that<\/a> was the main problem, and also raises questions about the process of protesting a race result.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sam Bloxham \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Wolff criticised the timing of the protest<\/a>, telling Sky Sports at the New York premiere of the\u00a0F1\u00a0movie: \u201cIt was two hours before [Red Bull] launched the protest, so that was their doing. It\u2019s so petty and so small. They come up with some weird clauses \u2013 what they call clauses. I guess the FIA needs to look at that because it was so far-fetched, it got rejected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner defended<\/a> the protest. Speaking to the same outlet, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s a team\u2019s right to do so. You have the ability to put it in front of the stewards, and that\u2019s what we chose to do. Absolutely no regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is at Fault?<\/p>\n

Teams are entitled to protest the outcome of a race if they believe a sporting regulation has been violated or that new evidence was missed by the stewards.<\/p>\n

Horner revealed that the appeal cost \u20ac2,000 (\u00a31,700) and admitted he was surprised Russell\u2019s driving wasn\u2019t flagged by the stewards initially.<\/p>\n

This also wasn\u2019t Red Bull\u2019s first protest of the season<\/a>. During May\u2019s Miami Grand Prix, Russell \u2013 who once again finished ahead of Verstappen \u2013 was accused of failing to slow under yellow flags. Red Bull were making a point and felt Russell had not slowed sufficiently, with Horner saying they were simply seeking clarity of the regulations.<\/p>\n

That claim, too, was dismissed.<\/p>\n

\"Christian <\/p>\n

Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Zak Mauger \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

While there’s no suggestion that Red Bull is deliberately targeting Russell, who has had a series of tense exchanges with Verstappen in recent years, the repeated protests do raise questions about the current appeal process in general.<\/p>\n

The \u20ac2,000 cost of filing a protest is not a deterrent, should a team wish to make a point or seek clarification over a regulation. After all, there are other mechanisms for this to be raised that would not delay the outcome of a race result.<\/p>\n

But if that fee were increased and counted toward the cost cap \u2013 it could discourage teams from lodging speculative appeals without solid evidence.<\/p>\n

A higher financial burden would likely ensure only well-founded protests are brought forward, potentially speeding up the process for the stewards and avoiding unnecessary delays.<\/p>\n

A problem of resources<\/p>\n

In the case of Canada, the situation was further complicated by the sheer volume of post-race investigations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the rules, incidents are reviewed in the order they are reported. Red Bull\u2019s protest, submitted two hours after the chequered flag, was placed last in the queue.<\/p>\n

\"Esteban <\/p>\n

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team, Carlos Sainz, Williams, Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber<\/p>\n

Photo by: James Sutton \/ Motorsport Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Before reaching Russell\u2019s case, the stewards had to examine incidents involving Ollie Bearman, Lando Norris<\/a>, and Esteban Ocon<\/a> \u2013 followed by\u00a0seven\u00a0separate alleged infringements of the safety car procedure.<\/p>\n

It was a frustrating experience for everyone. Fans at the circuit left without clarity, while many in Europe went to bed not knowing who had actually won the race. It was not a good look for a sport that is trying to grow its appeal around the world.<\/p>\n

Maybe there is scope for race stewards to delegate, meaning that the Remote Operations Centre in Geneva could cycle through the lesser offences using all the technology at its disposal.<\/p>\n

That would free up those stewards at the track to oversee Red Bull\u2019s protest and ultimately result in quicker decision-making.<\/p>\n

Another possibility would be to increase the number of stewards, something the FIA is already working on as it looks to increase its pool of qualified race officials. Interestingly, in Canada, officials at the race had more resources at their disposal as the FIA had four stewards adjudicating the race rather than the usual three. The increase in stewards is being trialled at six raced this year, including at Singapore and Brazil later this season.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Whatever the solution, it is important that the lengthy delay in confirming the race result is addressed as a matter of urgency, for it would be bad news for everyone if this became common place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this article<\/p>\n

Ben Hunt\n<\/p>\n

Formula 1\n<\/p>\n

Red Bull Racing\n<\/p>\n

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics<\/p>\n

Subscribe to news alerts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull\u2019s decision to appeal the result of the Canadian Grand Prix drew widespread criticism, with Mercedes team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[70939,4199,72727,707,4200,749,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-199517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-canadian-gp","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-f1-canadian-grand-prix","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-red-bull-racing","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114715012250494171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}