Russell delivers Verstappen assertion after Norris incident

George Russell believes Max Verstappen should have been punished as well as Lando Norris for the incident between the pair in the closing stages of the United States Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver ultimately feels F1 needs to "tackle the root cause" of the problem, which is a combination of the long-held track limits issue and the emerging overtaking off track dilemma.

The round in Austin brought the latter part to the fore, with multiple drivers penalised for completing overtaking moves by either going off-circuit themselves or by pushing their opponent wide, including Russell himself.

Towards the end of the grand prix at the Circuit of the Americas, Norris pitched his McLaren around the outside of Verstappen, who in turn forced them both off the track.

Because Norris technically completed his move outside the confines of the circuit limits, he was handed a five-second time penalty, which dropped him back behind the Red Bull come the chequered flag.

To Russell, however, both should have been punished, something that would have effectively cancelled out any penalties applied.

"Looking at Lando's [penalty], I think that was probably correct," the 27-year-old told media including RacingNews365. "But Max probably should have also got a penalty for running off the track."

The two-time grand prix winner drew upon past issues to illustrate his case, arguing that if you tackle the root cause, the problem goes away.

"For me, the root cause of the problem is having a circuit that allows you to run wide," he added before referencing the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix.

"If we take Austria last year as an example, you had, I don't know, 300 [potentially 1,200] track limit problems. They put gravel in [for this season], and there's no problems.

"If you put gravel in on that corner [Turn 12 at COTA], Lando doesn't go off and overtake and Max doesn't break that late and go off as well. So I think we need to tackle the root cause."

Russell and Hamilton see eye to eye

Like his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, the Russell believes full-time stewards could be a solution to inconsistent or misguided penalties.

The British driver was outspoken about wanting officials to use discretion more often, not merely applying the letter of the law, which may not best account for the specific scenario.

Russell acknowledged the need for guidelines, but in the aftermath last weekend called for common-sense thinking to prevail - even if his own penalty was technically correct.

"It's a very difficult task, because at the end of the day, you need to have a regulation. You need to have some sort of guideline," he said.

"Especially when we're having different stewards every single week who have a slightly different interpretation.

"For me, having looked back, I thought my penalty, which was harsh, but probably correct."