Christian Horner airs George Russell revelation with Sergio Perez comparison

Christian Horner insists Red Bull is not deliberately targeting George Russell after two recent protests against the Mercedes driver.

The Milton Keynes sought to have the 27-year-old penalised post-race for failing to sufficiently slow for yellow flags at the Miami Grand Prix, which, if upheld, would have seen Russell demoted from third position, with Max Verstappen elevated to the Floridian podium.

That preceded the controversies surrounding the Canadian Grand Prix, with Red Bull lodging a protest to the stewards on two counts against the British driver for safety car infringements.

It led to the results only being finalised over five hours after the chequered flag flying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

As was the case in the Sunshine State, both were rejected by officials and the original results stood unamended.

Horner explained why Red Bull had contested the outcome of the race when it was pointed out it was the second Russell-centric protest in five rounds and asked if it was a mere coincidence.

"It's certainly not personal to George," the 51-year-old told media including RacingNews365.

"The way that the regulations are, the regulations are pretty binary, pretty clear. So, we put in a protest."

The Red Bull team principal compared the situation in Montreal to when Sergio Perez was found guilty of two safety car offences at the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix.

Despite being given one five-second time penalty, the Mexican driver retained victory at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. However, Horner felt a precedent had been set.

"The regulations are very clear about the safety car," he added. "If you remember, Checo [Sergio Perez] back in Singapore in '22 got two penalties for it [one was a warning].

"So there were very clear precedents."