The FIA has explained why George Russell was made an example of during the Monaco Grand Prix with the severity of his punishment for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.
On lap 50 of the 78-lap race, the Mercedes driver intentionally skipped the Nouvelle Chicane (Turns 10 and 11) to get past the Williams of Alex Albon.
As a consequence of that, the stewards threw the book at the three-time grand prix winner, having already anticipated such ploys ahead of the race and wanting to prevent others from doing the same.
Whilst the usual guidelines allocate a 10-second time penalty for infringements of that nature, the officials had pre-warned teams it may take a stricter view at that specific corner sequence during the race.
Expecting situations of the kind to arise, the race director, at the behest of the stewards, also informed teams that the usual punishment may not be a strong enough deterrent and that harsher penalties may be considered.
Given Russell's decision to "take the penalty" as he told the Brackley-based squad over team radio, the 27-year-old was handed down a drive-through penalty.
The tactic of putting their foot down evidently worked, as Kimi Antonelli in the other W16 - who had also done the same thing on a later lap - subsequently gave the position back to Albon - and all other drivers were dissuaded from trying it, too.
The full explanation from the stewards, as outlined in the official FIA decision document, is below.
FIA explanation for the severity of George Russell's penalty
It was clear from the radio message where he said that he would 'take the penalty' that the overtake was done deliberately as he felt that he was being held up by Car 23 driving erratically.
Anticipating that situations such as this might happen at this Monaco Grand Prix, all the teams were informed before the race by the Race Director (at the Stewards request) that the stewards would look carefully at a deliberate leaving of the track at Turn 10 to overtake a car or a train of slow cars.
That communication also made it clear that the guideline penalty of 10 seconds may be insufficient for this deliberate infringement and that the penalty applied may be a greater penalty than 10 seconds.
We therefore considered that Car 63's deliberate infringement warranted a drive through penalty and we so imposed.
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