Mercedes rival hails Russell quick thinking in yellow flag confusion

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says that George Russell did “a good job” in slowing just enough under the Q3 yellow flag in Austria to satisfy the FIA stewards and still earn pole position.

A single yellow flag was shown when Max Verstappen crashed late in the session, and after a brief lift, Russell completed his lap, which proved to be the fastest.

A double yellow would have ensured the deletion of the lap times of all the drivers who passed through the zone.

Erroneously thinking that was the case, Kimi Antonelli backed off and aborted his lap, missing a shot at earning a front row slot alongside his team-mate.

Stella suggested that it was “a case on the edge”, but acknowledged that Russell had been savvy enough to fulfil the requirements of the regulations.

“For what I saw from the GPS overlays, I think Russell has done a good job of executing a lift,” said the Italian. “I can only see that the speed reduces before braking, losing a little bit of time through corner nine, at the same time losing little enough to actually be in pole position. 

“This, I think, is subject to the interpretation of the stewards as to the fact that this action complies with the requirements of a yellow flag. 

“But there is action, and I think we have to recognise that while drivers are incredibly able and good in executing the standard driving, sometimes they are also good at executing some manoeuvres that may be required in yellow flag, may give you justification and a rationale that the stewards can interpret like they did.

“So I think it was a kind of a case on the edge, but no particular concern with the fact that this has been accepted by the stewards.”

Asked if it was right for a driver to secure a pole position having passed through a yellow zone, Stella stressed that because the marshals had the choice of going for doubles - which would have obliged all drivers to abort – it was not something to be concerned about.

“I think, because there is an option to go for double yellow flag, it’s useful to retain the distinction between what you are allowed to do on a single yellow flag and what the requirement is, and what you are allowed and the requirement is for double,” he said. 

“The double itself, and the deletion of the lap is a relatively recent change, and I think this is very welcome. Definitely, any driver will have to be absolutely disincentivised to push in a section with a double yellow flag, but if there's a distinction between double and yellow, eventually the marshals or the race director will have deemed that this only requires the single yellow flag.

“Therefore, this is left to the judgment of the driver, and if the driver pushed too much, he will be penalised. So, I'm personally thinking that we are in a good situation from this point of view.”