Russell voices ‘common sense’ solution to F1 issue

George Russell has suggested F1 should implement permanent stewards to apply “common sense” to on-track incidents.

Russell was issued a five-second time penalty for forcing Valtteri Bottas off the track as they battled for position during the United States Grand Prix.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff accused the stewards of being “biased” after Max Verstappen wasn't penalised for running Lando Norris wide into Turn 1 at the start of the race.

However, Russell took a more neutral approach as he acknowledged the stewards have a challenging task when it comes to settling on-track debates.

“I think the stewards have a really difficult job because the regulations are so large,” Russell told media including RacingNews365.

“When you watch an incident in slow motion, or you pause it at a given point… my penalty with Valtteri, the rules state, if you're not ahead of the apex and you push someone wide, you get a penalty.

“So by the letter of the law, my penalty was correct. But anybody who knows racing and anybody watching it knows it was not correct.”

Russell issues potential solution

F1's stewarding set up consists of four personnel who make the decisions of on-track incidents during race weekends.

However, there is no permanent steward with the crew changed from weekend to weekend.

Russell has suggested having the same people in place throughout the entire season would lead to more consistent decisions.

“I don't really know how we move forward,” he said.

“I think we'd probably all want to see the same stewards all year long, so that the drivers and the stewards can all be on the same page. 

“We can apply common sense when needed, rather than having to really follow the letter of the law.”