Russell retains P2 after Bahrain GP DRS incident, no penalty imposed

Dominika Jordan
Apr 13, 2025, 04:02 PM ET

George Russell retains P2 at Bahrain GP despite DRS incident, confirmed by telemetry data.

Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool

George Russell has managed to retain his second-place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix despite a post-race investigation into his incorrect use of the drag reduction system (DRS).

Russell was running behind race winner Oscar Piastri when his car encountered a series of electronic issues, including a brake-by-wire problem and failures with the steering wheel display. The car also lost connection with the track's automated DRS activation system, designed to prevent drivers from using DRS outside designated zones or when not within a second of the car in front.

Realizing that the DRS system had lost connection, Russell's race engineer instructed him to override it manually using an auxiliary button, also a back-up radio button. Unfortunately, between Turns 10 and 11, Russell accidentally activated DRS while attempting to radio his team, but he quickly deactivated it and lifted off the throttle to negate any potential advantage.

"The DRS was activated for a distance of 37 meters on a straight of approximately 700 meters," the stewards stated. "While he gained 0.02 seconds, he gave up 0.28 seconds at the next corner to compensate. This was confirmed by telemetry. Accordingly, while technically a breach occurred, the Stewards decided that as there was no sporting advantage gained, no penalty is imposed."

Russell shared his thoughts on the incident and the challenges faced towards the end of the race as McLaren's Lando Norris attempted to overtake him.

"Yeah, it was exceptionally difficult towards the end," Russell said. "I had all sorts of problems with the car. The steering wheel, I was losing all my data and the brake pedal went into a failure mode, so I had to do all these resets. One minute the brakes were working properly, the next they weren't. So I was pretty pleased when I saw the checkered flag, to be honest. I don't really know how that happened [with the DRS]. It was something to do with all these failures we were having. As soon as I saw it opened, I backed off. I lost two tenths of a second. It never happened again throughout. I didn't actually click the DRS button -- I clicked another button and it opened. As I said, I lost a lot more than I gained -- I don't think I even gained anything because it was open for less than a second."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff praised Russell's performance despite the multiple issues, highlighting the difficulty of driving a car without a fully operational brake-by-wire system.

"We had a brake-by-wire failure suddenly, and then it took a while to find the settings and still kind of reset it, but we did that," Wolff said. "And then, to be honest, him managing the system, coming in and out, whilst having Norris behind him -- it's just an unbelievable drive, to be honest. What he did today, he secured us this podium. On top of that, taking the soft tire for such a long time was also great, between managing and then attacking when he needed to.

"If you haven't driven a race car that has a BBW or a conventional brake, it's like on a road car with power-assisted steering. Then imagine you have to adjust between one corner having it and the next one not having it. It's just... That was just very good skill. So it was brake-by-wire, you lost the GPS, you lost the onboard DRS. The whole lot. And I think on the dash [display], we didn't have all the things that we expected, and we also feared that we would lose the whole dash, which would have meant no buttons, no switches to turn any of the settings."

Russell's ability to manage these challenges and maintain his position on the podium underscores his skill and adaptability under pressure. The Bahrain Grand Prix proved to be a true test of technical prowess and driving aptitude for the young Mercedes driver.