Toto Wolff wants FIA president intervention after ‘inexplicable’ Russell penalty

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is “sure” that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem will address perceived inconsistencies in stewards’ decisions after the events of the US Grand Prix.

“What?!” Russell replied, perplexed, when informed that he had been given a five-second time penalty for forcing Valtteri Bottas off the track at Turn 12, but later in the race, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris both went off at that corner, Verstappen defending P3 as Norris had a look around the outside, with Norris the one punished.

Toto Wolff confident FIA president will look into stewards’ situation

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Norris was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage after re-joining ahead of Verstappen and not returning the place, with Russell asking over Mercedes team radio during the cooldown lap whether Verstappen had been penalised for that, or the race start where both he and Norris went off at Turn 1, allowing Charles Leclerc to swoop by into the lead.

“No, he didn’t get a penalty, and at the end, Lando got a penalty for being forced off and overtaking on the outside. I guess it is a bit biased decision-making,” Wolff replied.

The Austrian returned to the topic in his post-US GP media briefing, and while showing some empathy for the stewards, he said there is no explanation for their Russell verdict and expressed his belief that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem will intervene.

“I think the stewards are in a really difficult situation. There’s always going to be one that’s happy and the other one unhappy,” Wolff told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“But we need to try to understand whether there are certain patterns in stewarding decisions, and whether that correlates to some of the you know, situations.

“Everybody’s racing hard, but for me the decision against George was inexplicable.

“We’ve seen plenty of these situations in Turn 12, not one of them was penalised until it hit George and then obviously there was another one of those. I don’t want to comment on the Max/Lando situation, because it’s not my race. Zak and Andrea [McLaren bosses] will look at that.

“Everybody’s giving their best… I need to hold myself back.

“I think there’s great stewards, honestly great stewards that have either been in the racing car or have a non-biased view on situations, doing the best of their abilities for a job that is truly difficult.

“We mustn’t put everybody in the same category. There’s a few, you know, inconsistencies, but I’m sure the president is going to look at that.”

Learn more about FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem

? Who is Mohammed Ben Sulayem? Everything you need to know about the FIA president

? FIA explained: What does it stand for and how does it govern F1?

Russell felt that any steward with racing knowhow would not have issued that time penalty.

“I think the stewards have a really difficult job because the regulation is so large, when you watch an incident in slow motion, or you pause it at a given point, in my penalty with Valtteri, the rules state if you’re not ahead at the apex and you push someone wide, you get a penalty. So by the letter of the law, my penalty was correct,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“But anybody who knows racing, anybody watching it, knows it was not correct. So, you know, I don’t really know how we move forward.

“I think we’d probably all want to see probably the same stewards all year long, so that the drivers and the stewards can all be on the same page, and that we can apply common sense, when needed, rather than having to really follow the letter of the law.”

However, ex-F1 racer turned FIA steward Johnny Herbert revealed how money is a major stumbling block for that idea.

“Should there be one steward every single race? You can argue that or all four the same? Yes, you could argue that,” Herbert told PlanetF1.com. “But it’s time. We don’t get paid [a lot] for it. We get $300 a day or something. So it’s very small.

“So that’s when it changes to a proper job. Where you’re committing to a season, to 20 or more races, for example. So it’s very, very different from that point of view.”

Russell ultimately finished the US GP in P6, as focus now switches to this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Round 20 of 24 in F1 2024.

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