George Russell will not be investigated by the FIA race stewards for setting his Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix pole lap under yellow flags brought out by Max Verstappen’s crash, as the Mercedes driver was deemed to have lifted off enough in Turn 9.
Red Bull’s Verstappen crashed in the final moments of qualifying as he made a last-ditch attempt to battle the Mercedes drivers for pole, being just over half a tenth down after the first two sectors.
But as Verstappen suffered a violent snap of oversteer in the fast Turn 9 right-hander, the four-time world champion ended up spinning into the barriers to end his pole bid, bringing out a local yellow flag.
That yellow threatened to derail Russell’s pole lap, with the Mercedes driver passing a single yellow on the light panel before entering Turn 9. Russell then continued on towards the finish to set the fastest lap time, informing his engineer – and race control – that he had heeded the yellow flag.
“I lifted at the entry into that corner, lost a lot of time,” Russell said on the team radio.
Russell’s potential yellow flag infringement was picked up by race control, but the race stewards swiftly decided not to investigate the incident.
Max Verstappen crashed out on his final lap.
Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images
After comparing Russell’s data with his previous best, the stewards appeared to be satisfied that Russell had reduced speed in the relevant marshal sectors. That was enough for Russell to escape sanction, because the sector was just under a single yellow rather than a double waved yellow flag.
Article B1.8.4 of the 2026 sporting regulations said: “Any driver passing through a waved yellow flag marshalling sector must reduce their speed and be prepared to change direction. In order for the stewards to be satisfied that any such driver has complied with these requirements they are expected to have braked earlier and/or discernibly reduced speed in the relevant marshalling sector.”
If there had been a double waved yellow flag, Russell would not have been allowed to set an improved lap time and would have had his lap time deleted anyway.
“It’s a single yellow and a 100-metre lift-off, George loses a tenth and a half. It’s completely on,” Mercedes chief Toto Wolff told Sky. “It was an incredible lap, and you see it on the data. It’s a massive lift compared to all the laps before, so well done him. I’m really happy for him, how he managed that.”
Russell’s action sowed confusion because team-mate Kimi Antonelli did abort his lap and ducked back into the pits. But according to Wolff, the Italian mistook the single yellow for a double, and therefore needlessly abandoned his flyer. “I think he was under the impression it was a double yellow,” Wolff explained.
Russell’s 1m06.113s lap defeated the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton by over two tenths, taking his second consecutive pole of 2026 as he aims to claw back his 50-point championship deficit to leader Antonelli.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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