Russell conquers pole position, Verstappen is worried about participation in Austria

Russell conquers pole position, Verstappen is worried about participation in Austria

Österreich - On June 14, 2025, George Russell achieved an impressive pole position in qualifying for the Montreal Grand Prix. The Englishman described his last round as one of the most exciting in his life. Russell, who drives for Mercedes, shares the first series of starting series with Max Verstappen, who will go into the race from second place. This placement is particularly important for Verstappen because he had driven Russell in the car two weeks ago in Spain, which led to a tense rivalry between the two drivers.

In the current situation, Verstappen has 11 penalty points on his super license. In the event of repeated violations, these points can lead to a race without participation if he exceeds the limit of 12 points, which would be problematic for the upcoming Grand Prix in Austria. In an interview, Russell pointed out that Verstappen has "a few points less on his license", which indicates the close coordination between the two drivers.

penalties and incidents in qualifying

Kimi Antonelli qualified for fourth place in the second Mercedes, while Lewis Hamilton became fifth and thus emerged as the better driver in the Ferrari team. Lando Norris reached seventh place, followed by Charles Leclerc, who started in the second Ferrari. Even Yuki Tsunoda, who initially ended up in eleventh place after an offense in the third free training session, has to go back to the starting line -up due to a violation of the red flags.

The FIA ​​also confirmed that qualifying was overshadowed by an incident between Russell and Verstappen. Both drivers were listened to by the stewards who checked telemetry data, team radio and onboard recordings. It turned out that "Auto 1" (presumably Verstappen) did not follow the instructions of the racing director and drove unnecessarily slowly in a high -speed curve. This made the decision that a usual three-place penalty for Verstappen was not justified.

Current status of the penalty points

The system of penalty points in Formula 1 is crucial for the regulation of the drivers. When 12 points within one year, a driver is blocked for a race. Verstappen currently has 11 points, while Russell has only 1 point on his license. An overview of the current penalty points also shows that other drivers are also faced with offenses:

The next race event will show whether Verstappen can defend its place in the upcoming race in Austria or whether the penalty points will ultimately throw him back. The tension remains high in the Formula 1 circus.