How the F1 Rulebook Handed George Russell Easy Move On Sergio Perez at French GP

The 2021 season ended in a huge controversy because of an inconsistency in the rules followed by the race director. This season,                                                                         the story is no different despite having two new race directors in charge. The incident involving George Russell and Sergio Perez at the French GP has thrown the spotlight once again on the instability in rules.

The track limits have featured in recent races and many drivers have complained about the rules changing every weekend. However, this time around the Virtual Safety Car period is under fire. On lap 49 of the race, a late VSC featured because of the Alfa Romeo pulling up on the side of the track.

This presented Russell with an opportunity to line up a move on Perez. On lap 51 the VSC ended, and the Mercedes was ahead of the Red Bull before it even got the time to react. The lights went green much later than they are supposed to, which resulted in a missed podium for the Mexican driver. Article 4.13.7 of the FIA rulebook states the following.

“When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to end the VSC procedure the message “VSC ENDING” will be sent to all teams via the official messaging system and, at any time between 10 and 15 seconds later, “VSC” on the FIA light panels will change to green and drivers may continue the session or continue racing immediately. After 30 seconds the green lights will be extinguished.”

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Checo opined on this incident by saying “I mean it’s a shame the virtual safety car interfered with the result, to be honest. It shouldn’t be the case, but today it was the case. It [the message of VSC ending] was totally wrong, there was something going on because it said it was going to end out of Turn 9 and it only ended out of Turn 12.”

Do you think FIA needs to have more measures in place to have consistent race weekends throughout the season?

George Russell leaves F1 World impressed

Mr. Consistency finished another race in the top 5 to continue his strong form this season. He earned his 4th podium of the season by overtaking the Red Bull around the Paul Ricard. Here is how F1 Twitter reacted to his brilliant move.

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Currently, the Briton stands P5 in the championship with 143 points to his name. Notably, only one point behind the Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz who is arguably in the fastest car of the 2022 season. Will F1’s Mr. Consistency manage to keep up his streak?