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“We Ask Questions and…”: George Russell Reveals the Dark Truth Behind $25K Sebastian Vettel-FIA Conundrum

Published 07/10/2022, 4:17 AM EDT

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via Reuters

George Russell explained why Sebastian Vettel and other drivers have issues with some decisions made by the race directors! The German driver recently faced a suspended €25,000 ($25,455.63) fine after he reportedly stormed out of an F1 driver’s meet. Notably, tensions arose over how things were to be conducted.

After last year’s infamous Abu Dhabi debacle, Michael Masi stepped down from his position and the FIA replaced him with a revamped race control that would see two new directors take charge. As a result, Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich are supposed to alternate roles every weekend. But this has now become a problem.

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Vettel being summoned by the stewards was also a point of contention. But Russell kept it short and claimed, “I do agree that we need to stick with one race director, we need to have more consistency with the stewarding. We come to the following event and often the steward from the previous event is not there so there’s no accountability or no explanations of decisions.”

“We ask questions and it’s difficult to get a straightforward answer because- I wouldn’t say the blame, but the blame is put onto someone else who isn’t there. It is tricky, everybody has their own interpretations.” Strikingly, Russell is a fellow GPDA lead with Vettel, a WhatsApp group the F1 drivers share.

Max Verstappen Equals 4-Time Red Bull F1 Champion Sebastian Vettel in Astonishing Feat

With drivers and maybe even several fans demanding one race director, how will the FIA react? There have been several instances that have raised many doubts.

Several share the Sebastian Vettel opinion

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The epic Charles Leclerc vs Lewis Hamilton vs Sergio Perez showdown saw all three drivers race hard and seemingly bump each other off the track in their hurry to gain a podium place. In the same race, Max Verstappen and Mick Schumacher also raced hard as Verstappen put up a fierce defense to deny the Haas driver.

via Reuters

Fernando Alonso recently raised doubts over changing racing rules. Unsurprisingly, the drivers are not very keen on several inconsistent decisions as they allow some drivers to go off the track conveniently. Even in Austria, drivers faced the wrath of deleted lap times as they ran their machinery beyond the yellow line, which was another struggle.

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Watch This Story: F1 Drivers Fighting on Track

Clearly, the FIA’s decisions have remained conspicuous with even fans pointing them out. What do you think should happen now? How can they improve this and bring some consistency?

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Written by:

Khyati Yadav

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Khyati Yadav is an F1 writer at EssentiallySports. She is a Hospitality Graduate and a huge fan of Lando Norris. She believes that F1 as a sport deserves a lot more attention and is intrigued by the process that goes behind the making of a car and the hard work that goes into the setting up of any Grand Prix.
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Edited by:

Reubyn Coutinho