George Russell apologises to marshals for ‘embarrassing’ unsafe act at F1 Canadian GP
George Russell has apologised for an incident following his exit from the F1 Canadian Grand Prix.
George Russell has issued an apology to Formula 1 marshals for throwing his headrest onto the track following his costly retirement at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell had been engaged in a gripping battle for the lead with Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with the pair swapping places several times during the opening 30 laps of Sunday’s race in Montreal before Russell’s car suddenly stopped with a power unit failure.
The 28-year-old Briton reacted furiously to seeing his race come to a heartbreaking end. Russell slammed the front of his car and threw his headrest from the cockpit of his W17 and onto the track in frustration.
He was noted for the incident and placed under investigation, with the stewards ultimately handing Russell a €5,000 fine suspended for 12 months on the provision that no repeat offences occur during that time.
Russell was shown leniency after he apologised for his emotional outburst, expressing his “embarrassment” at his actions.
“The driver explained that he was extremely frustrated having failed to finish the race, and expressed his embarrassment as what subsequently followed,” the stewards noted.
“He apologised to the Stewards for his action and acknowledged that it did not set a good example and offered to apologise publicly.”
Russell followed up on his offer to publicly apologise, which he did on Monday via a post on social media.
“Apologies to the marshals & FIA for making their job harder than it needed to be,” Russell wrote on X.
“Lots of emotions in the moment.”
Russell’s first retirement since the 2024 British Grand Prix means he is now trailing Antonelli, who claimed his fourth consecutive victory, by 43 points after the first five grands prix and three sprint races.
"Everything just turned off all of a sudden,” Russell told Sky Sports F1 after the race. "Just went into the corner, engine stopped, no electronics, no proper braking. I'm a bit lost for words to be honest right now.
"I've got to be honest, I'm proud of my weekend. Pole in the sprint, won the sprint, pole in qualifying. I was leading when I stopped, I had good [fun] battling with Kimi. From my side I don't feel like there was anything more I could have done this weekend.
“So, I'll leave satisfied. Of course, I'm pretty damn frustrated with what's happened. But yeah, what more can I do?"
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