Russell kept pole at the Red Bull Ring after improving on his final Q3 lap despite passing through a single yellow flag zone caused by Max Verstappen’s crash at Turn 9.
The Mercedes driver lifted through the affected sector and was cleared by the FIA, with the rules allowing a driver to complete a lap under single yellow flags if they slow sufficiently and remain prepared to change direction.
Sainz said Russell had done nothing wrong, but argued the incident exposed a flaw in the way qualifying interruptions are handled.
“I have a very personal idea about this that hasn’t been discussed among the GPDA yet, which I will potentially bring forward as an idea,” Sainz explained.
“It’s clear to me at least, that situation should have been a double yellow or a red. The way George handled it I think was perfect – for what the rulebook allows you to do.
“He deserved that pole position, because he played the rules to perfection.
“But he should have never been allowed to finish that lap or to close a lap in that kind of dangerous situation.”
The Williams driver and GPDA director said any driver who triggers a yellow or red flag in qualifying should face a three-place grid penalty, arguing it would remove any incentive to overstep the limit and block rivals from improving.
“I think that anyone who generates a yellow flag or a red flag in qualifying, it should be three place grid drop,” Sainz said.
“So at least you get penalised for it, and you get disincentivised to go flat out into something, which was not the case for Max, because Max was I think P3 at the time.
“He obviously crashed through a failure of the rear wing. Or something like this.
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“But I think we should find a solution for that, and that’s my only idea – that if you generate a yellow or a red you should get some kind of penalty.”
Sainz stressed he was not accusing Verstappen of deliberately causing the yellow flag in Austria, but said the current rules can still reward a driver who prevents others from completing a lap.
“If you push flat out but you push too far, and you’re not letting others improve. You’re earning a position by not letting others do a better job than you. Even if it’s non-intentional,” Sainz added.
“I’m not saying Max did it on purpose. I think Max had a failure. Max was not even on pole, so he had zero incentive to do that.
“But I think we need to come up with ideas to try and solve those situations.”
Sainz pointed to Monaco and Baku as circuits where drivers are especially aware of how yellow and red flags can shape qualifying.
He said drivers understand the advantage that can come from being at the front of the queue late in a session, particularly when rivals are relying on one final lap.
“Like typically in Monaco. I could have done it last year in Baku, when I was on pole and I was the first car out of the pits,” Sainz said.
“I said ‘if I crash now I’m on pole’. We all have these thoughts. We all have these second thoughts. We all know how the rulebook works.”
Sainz’s former teammate Charles Leclerc said he understood the logic at certain tracks, but was not convinced it should become a blanket rule.
“It’s true that it’s one of those races where you can play with the yellow flags a little bit. And I think there are specific tracks where maybe we need to look at that closer,” Leclerc said.
“Whether this needs to be a general rule… I think the person that ends up in the wall, Max for example in the last race, I think he pays enough price of ending up there and not finishing the lap, which would have been good enough for him to be second.
“So I don’t think that, as a general rule, it makes much sense.
“But in some tracks, it’s something that we’ve discussed, as drivers. To install that for the whole season, I don’t think makes sense.”
Verstappen agreed that intentional cases should be punished even harder, but felt the bigger issue from Austria was that Russell was allowed to complete a lap under those conditions.
“People are still completing a lap or others are backing out of it,” said Verstappen.
“Now you, of course, can read the rules really well. You complete your lap and you’re allowed to keep it.
“But I think, first of all, it should not have been a single yellow. That is at least a double yellow or a red, first of all.
“The driver then, of course, optimises around it. I think that’s fair play. I probably would have tried to do the same. That’s just how it goes.
“But it should not even be allowed or be possible to finish your lap like that.
“That’s, for me, the main concern in all of it.”
Russell defended his pole after qualifying, saying he lifted significantly once he saw the yellow flag and was confident he had followed the rules correctly.
The FIA agreed, allowing him to keep pole after reviewing the Mercedes driver’s data.
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