Breaking: George Russell keeps Canadian GP victory as Red Bull protest rejected

George Russell has retained his Canadian Grand Prix victory after the stewards rejected a protest from Red Bull.

The investigation was sparked following a shock collision involving McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Russell, resulting in the retirement of the latter and sparking the introduction of a safety car with three laps remaining at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Behind the safety car, Mercedes driver Russell braked sharply, causing Verstappen, following directly behind, to momentarily pass.

The four-time F1 champion made his feelings clear over the radio to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. "George suddenly just aggressively braked," complained Verstappen. Lambiase responded: "Understood, thank you, we will check for any erratic driving."

Russell, meanwhile, complained to his race engineer, Marcus Dudley, that, "Verstappen just overtook me under the safety car."

A few minutes later, and upon review, Lambiase then informed Verstappen: "That incident with Russell now being shown on the feeds, Max, it's pretty blatant. Just don't fall for the gamesmanship, OK? Thank you."

There was seemingly the suggestion that Russell deliberately attempted to get Verstappen to pass, and get him charged with 'overtaking under safety car conditions', earning a penalty and additional points on his licence, so incurring a race ban.

However, following a lengthy hearing, and almost six hours after the race finished, the stewards determined that Red Bull's submissions were unfounded, and there were no grounds for the appeal.