George Russell believes a software issue caused five drivers to be penalised for exceeding the pit lane speed limit by just 0.1 kph during the Monaco Grand Prix.
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Russell was one of the five drivers handed sanctions. He suffered the most significant consequence after failing to serve the initial five-second time penalty, which was then escalated to a drive-through penalty.
“I’m not too sure why we got a penalty because I was on the pit limiter before the line,” Russell said. “I released it after the line but clearly there’s a problem in the software and many drivers got penalties.”
Russell described the escalation of his penalty as excessive. “Five seconds is not ideal but not the end of the world. Then in the pit stop there was just major confusion and getting a drive-through [for that], the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”
The stewards issued six penalties for pit lane speeding during the race to five different drivers. Alongside Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Franco Colapinto and Oscar Piastri were recorded 0.1 kph over the pit lane limit. Pierre Gasly was also penalised for 0.1 kph on one occasion and later for exceeding the limit by 0.4 kph when he made a second pit stop.
Russell had already exceeded the pit lane speed limit earlier in the weekend during first practice by 0.3 kph. His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli recorded a 0.1 kph breach in the second session.
Other practice session breaches included Fernando Alonso, who exceeded the limit by 0.5 kph in the second session, and Alexander Albon, who was 0.2 kph over in third practice. Franco Colapinto registered a substantially larger breach of 8.9 kph in final practice.
This article will be updated
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