The Australian GP was a bitter-sweet experience for team Mercedes as George Russell DNF’d while Lewis Hamilton delivered the season’s first podium. That was despite the fact that Russell got off to a great start, leading the race from the first corner after overtaking Max Verstappen. However, a moment arrived when both drivers had to take a call, and for change, this time, the junior Briton turned out to be the unlucky one.

Saudi Arabian GP saw the two Mercedes drivers field vastly different tweaks in their cars. The difference favored George as he finished one place above his teammate. When they gave him the P3 finish (only to reinstate him back to P4) owing to the time penalty for Fernando Alonso, Hamilton refused to celebrate his partner’s success. He cited the difference in their pace to Russell getting lucky with the tweaks, something that rarely happens. The man from King’s Lynn finally ran out of luck in Australia when he decided to pit for a tire change. That happened when he was leading the race and Alex Albon crashed. To his dismay, red flags came out while he slipped down the grid.

Discussing the situation in The Red Flags Podcast, they said, “That guy is insane. That’s Max, in a professional race car with DRS open. It’s absolutely incredible and you’re like, ‘there’s no strategy. You could have Albert f*cking Einstein up there and it wouldn’t f*cking matter’. But in the moment, you’re like, ‘f*ck yeah George, being huge brain, pitting from the front’.”

“And then Lewis was amazing. Lewis goes, ‘this is gonna lead me to real disadvantage’. And then why would that happen? Red flag! And it is like, ‘shut up, Lewis, shut up’ because George has got f*cked. And it’s good because George has had really good luck.”

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Russell was certainly not pleased with FIA’s decision to bring out the red flags so late.

George Russell lashes out at FIA for delaying the red flag decision

Pitting behind the safety car is almost always a good decision as you don’t lose too much time. That was perhaps the thinking behind Russell going for a tire change after Albon’s crash. However, the stewards took a late decision to stop the session altogether. That was after Russell had slipped behind.

Reacting to FIA’s poor decision-making, as per Motorsport-Total, he said, “It took too long to show the red flag after the safety car.” [Translated using Google]

He suggested that in the future, they closed the pit lane until they arrived at a firm decision. “And if it just stays with a safety car, then they can open it again,” he added. “But there must be no reckless decisions affecting the race.”

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FIA’s poor management in this case, however, becomes a moot point. That is because George later saw his car burst into flames, resulting in him prematurely retiring from the race.