George Russell calls for “six-figure” protest deposits to make teams “think twice”

George Russell believes Formula 1 teams should be charged a “six-figure sum” to launch appeals to race stewards in an attempt to prevent frivolous protests.

The Mercedes driver was made to wait to toast his first victory of the 2025 season after taking the chequered flag in Canada last time out, with Red Bull lodging an appeal that first of all focused on Russell’s driving behind the safety car before switching to claims of “unsportsmanlike” driving towards world champion Max Verstappen.

Almost six hours after the race, the FIA stewards threw out the Red Bull appeal as it was not founded, leaving Russell in place as the race winner.

Teams have to pay €2,000 to take an appeal to the stewards, with no threshold on the information they can then present, something Russell – a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association – wants to see change.

Asked if there should be a higher deposit for protests, the Brit replied: “Yeah, 100%. When you look at the financial penalties that go around for saying the swear word in the heat of the moment or touching a rear wing or whatever, €2,000 for a team who are making nine-figure profits is not going to even touch the sides, it’s not even going to be thought about twice.

“So, yeah, potentially if that was a six-figure sum to put down, maybe they would think twice about it. And perhaps that when it’s something like a protest, you obviously get your money back if you win the protest.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

“So it’s basically on your own risk. Whereas at the moment, €2000 for a Formula 1 team, it’s not even a consideration.”

Russell and Verstappen spent 45 minutes in the stewards office in Montreal, putting forward their respective cases alongside members of their teams, with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff later calling Red Bull’s appeal “petty and childish”.

It followed on from the Spanish Grand Prix, where Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty and three points on his superlicence for driving into the side of Russell in the closing stages – but Russell feels the Canada appeal was nothing to do with the reigning world champion.

“I think firstly it was nothing, seemingly it all came from Red Bull, as opposed to Max, I don’t think Max was even aware of the protest,” he said.

“It was pretty clear there was not going to be any penalty. My personal view is that they wanted to go on the offensive to protect themselves, in case Max got a penalty for going ahead of me during that safety car incident. So that was my personal view, but it was just a bit of a faff and was not really necessary.”

As the FIA faced criticism for the lengthy process on Sunday evening in Montreal, the world governing body for motorsport has now made public its penalty and driving standards guidelines, something welcomed by the majority of drivers, including Russell.

But it has also reignited to debate over whether full-time, paid stewards should be used rather than volunteers on a rotational basis.

“I still believe the best course would be to have fully-paid professional stewards, a consistent panel, and potentially even slightly reducing those driver guidelines because ultimately those guidelines are there to assist the stewards in the decision-making,” added Russell.

“And if you have one steward who’s only doing one in every four races, they need that guidance. Whereas if you’ve got a consistent, three or four individuals, we will know their viewpoint, they will know our viewpoint and you can judge each incident slightly more on how it happens as opposed to what the letter of the law is written.”

Photos from Austrian Grand Prix – Thursday