Russell’s pole lap caused immediate confusion at the end of Q3 after he crossed the line fastest moments after Verstappen crashed at Turn 9.
The Red Bull driver had been on a strong final lap of his own before losing control through the fast right-hander, spearing into the gravel and hitting the wall.
That brought out yellow flags just as the Mercedes drivers were arriving at the final part of the lap, with Kimi Antonelli aborting his attempt while Russell continued and improved to a 1m06.113s.
The key point was that Russell passed through the sector under single yellow conditions, not double yellows.
Under a single yellow, a driver must reduce speed and be prepared to change direction, but is not automatically required to abandon the lap.
Had it been a double waved yellow, Russell’s lap would have been deleted regardless, as drivers are required to significantly slow and abandon any meaningful attempt.
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Race control noted the incident because Russell had improved despite the yellow flag, but the FIA reviewed the Mercedes driver’s data and deemed he had lifted sufficiently through the relevant marshal sector.
The initial confusion was increased by lap deletion messages appearing on the FIA timing screens shortly after qualifying, although those were later understood to relate to in-laps once the area had been upgraded to double waved yellows.
By the time that happened, both Russell and Antonelli had already passed through the sector.
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Russell said he was confident he had responded correctly to the yellow flag as soon as he saw it.
“The lap was unbelievable and then obviously I got the single yellow in the last sector but I did a 100 metre lift, lost a huge amount of time…I don’t have the answer for sure, where it came from, but it felt very sweet,” Russell said.
“It’s a corner where you can see quite a lot, a huge lift and I was going to assess the situation as soon as I got to the corner, if the car was there.
“As it was a single yellow, I was pretty confident there was no danger. As soon as I turned into the corner, I already saw the green up ahead.
“I actually thought the car had continued, because I didn’t see the car, it was so far off the track, I didn’t see the car whatsoever.
“It was only when I saw the replay after I saw it was well off into the wall.
“So yeah, I was glad common sense prevailed there.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff also defended the decision, saying the data clearly showed Russell had lifted.
“It was a 100 metre lift, it’s a single yellow,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
“It’s a 100-metre lift from George, he loses a tenth and a half.
“It was an incredible lap, we saw it on the data, it was a massive lift compared to all the laps before.
“Well done to him, I’m really happy he managed to do it.”
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Russell’s ability to still improve came from the strength of his lap before reaching the yellow flag zone.
He had gained significant time through the first two sectors and was still able to complete the lap fast enough to beat Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, despite losing time through the final corners.
Antonelli, meanwhile, abandoned his lap because he believed the flags were double waved, which would have automatically ended any chance of improving.
The Italian took responsibility for backing off, although he admitted the situation was difficult to read in the moment.
“I saw a double-yellow, so it’s probably my mistake, but I aborted the lap, and that was it,” Antonelli said.
“I heard ‘yellow yellow’, but I was looking at the marshal, and probably I saw it wrong, I saw two flags instead of one and I aborted.
“It was also hard to see because the sun was in the face, and I just looked at the marshal, because the panel went yellow, but of course, you don’t know if it was a single or a double yellow.
“So I looked at the marshal, and it was hard to see, and I thought I saw double yellows instead of one, so I just aborted completely.
“I would have been one-tenth behind [Russell], so it would have been on the front row, but still not enough for pole.”
Antonelli also questioned why the crash was not immediately covered by double waved yellows given the speed of the corner.
“There was a car in the wall on a fast corner, so I don’t know why it didn’t go double-yellow straight away, because it is a super-quick corner.
“If you go off at the same time, you can end up very badly, so it was a bit confusing, but it is what it is.”
Verstappen was also surprised when told the incident had initially only been covered by a single yellow.
“I mean, I only heard about that now. That’s quite crazy,” said Verstappen.
Russell, however, backed the original call, arguing that the crashed Red Bull was far enough away from the circuit for a single yellow to be sufficient.
“As I said I didn’t even see the [crashed] car, because the run-off is so far. In that instance, a single yellow was correct,” he insisted.
“Double yellow is immediate danger. Lifting 100 metres before a corner or lifting off with a single yellow, you’re never going to lose control of the car.
“Verstappen, the only reason he was in the wall that far away is because he was attacking and lost the car.
“So the single yellow was correct, I think I did everything right to be very much under control. Different story to a double.”
Sky Sports F1 analyst Bernie Collins also argued the matter was clear once the timing of the flag signals was established.
“In the data, and everything I can see, at the point George Russell and Kimi Antonelli went through that sector, it was not a double-waved yellow flag,” Collins said.
“And in reality, it was not a double-waved yellow flag. It is case closed.
“It is a red herring to say that it looked physically like a double-waved yellow. It only went double-waved on his in-lap, so it should stay.”
Fellow Sky Sports F1 analyst Anthony Davidson also said Russell’s onboard showed a clear lift before Turn 9.
“That’s a lot earlier and a lot more of a lift-off than your typical lap, especially on a push lap,” Davidson said.
“So, to be fair to George, he’s telling the truth, he lifted off a lot into that corner, and the data will show that.”
Russell will therefore start from pole ahead of the Ferrari pair of Leclerc and Hamilton, with Antonelli fourth and Verstappen fifth.
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