Double standards from FIA on F1 penalties: George Russell proposes a solution. George Russell shares a solution amid inconsistency in FIA stewards' decisions when giving F1 penalties.

More controversy over the stewards
The penalty given to George Russell in the United States Grand Prix at the 5.513-kilometre Circuit of The Americas in Austin for pushing Valtteri Bottas off the track infuriated Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who pointed out the disparity in the stewards’ decisions between his driver and Max Verstappen, who got away without punishment despite pushing Lando Norris off track twice.

It was a penalty that George Russell himself clearly did not appreciate. He believes the stewards should use more common sense when making judgments before issuing penalties.

“I think the stewards have a really difficult job because the regulations are very broad,” said the Mercedes driver after the race, commenting on the incident. “When you watch an incident in slow motion, or pause it at a specific point… in my penalty with Valtteri, the rules say that if you’re not ahead at the apex and you push someone off track, you get a penalty. So, following the regulations to the letter, my penalty was correct. But anyone who knows racing and watches it knows it wasn’t.” – he pointed out.

So, what would be an effective way to prevent future controversies over such incidents?

For George Russell, one solution could be to have the same panel of stewards for the entire season: “I think we’d probably all like to see the same race stewards for the whole year so that drivers and stewards can all be on the same page. We can apply common sense when necessary, instead of having to follow the regulations to the letter,” the British driver concluded at the end of the Austin race.