2026 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

[MB_Racer]

You know perfectly what I mean, lifting by 10 kph is not safety, VSC speed is.
Every other team doing this would have seen time canceled and 3 positions penalty.

You are joking right ?

Please read the rules again it’s very clear no grey area sorry.

Singe yellow, GR lifted like the rules states… and he still got an easy pole…

Nothing to debate here, these are just written rules

https://www.fia.com/regulation/category/110
Search for “yellow flag” or “Appendix H” inside the PDF. The key text is in the supplementary rules to Appendix H (e.g., Article on Single Waved Yellow Flag: drivers must reduce speed and it must be evident via braking/lift).

[Darth-Piekus]

Russell on the replay is lifting, but hes lifting to take the turn. I dont think that guarantees as a lift to the single yellow. But the stewards have decided no further action so nothing much anyone can do. The result is final unless theres an appeal.

[maygun]

Russell on the replay is lifting, but hes lifting to take the turn. I dont think that guarantees as a lift to the single yellow. But the stewards have decided no further action so nothing much anyone can do. The result is final unless theres an appeal.

If you dont have a disability regarding understanding what you read, lifting here means compared to a regular occurrence, which team generally uses drivers' previous normal lap. And in the graphs it clearly shows he lifts clearly compared to previos run of his.

[Darth-Piekus]

The previous normal lap was slower though.

[FNTC]

I'm not a George or Mercedes fan, but he played the game perfectly here. It was a single yellow in sector 15 for 22 seconds, he did a token lift and it was upgraded to double after he passed. Kimi messed up and misread the LED panel and thought it was a double when it was a single and should have done the same (which he admitted in interviews after).
That being said, the FIA accepting pole laps during yellows is not exactly safe, so FIA should be criticized for not having stricter guidelines for yellow, and not flagging it double immediately.

[Artur Craft]

Anybody have their S1 and S2 in that final lap?

[Watto]

The previous normal lap was slower though.

Absolutely nothing controversial with it. I'm not much of a George fan but he played the rules well he lifted it was clear in the data.

The confusion was purely over the commentators thinking it was a double yellow or should have been perhaps.

But was a single once it was there was no controversy at all. Lifted well before the corner it was just a great lap he was able to improve and lift and compliment George on the lap.

[Darth-Piekus]

Russell said that he was half a second faster and lost half of it during lifting. Is that the case? I noticed that he had 1 tenth in total after S1 and S2 on his last lap over Leclerc. Where did he find 4 more tenths in such a short S3 that consist of one small straight before the yellow flag? Unless he kept all the battery for that one straight which is hard to believe as he would need it for the first part I find it hard to believe there wasnt something fishy here.

[aMessageToCharlie]

World Champion level execution from Russell today. Quickly thinking on his feet while putting in a masterful hot lap, taking pole even with lifting off and on the radio arguing his case at the same time.

Hope we'll get a nice fight between the top 4 for the win tomorrow.

Also kudos to Verstappen for giving it full beans. That's what we want to see.

[Matt2725]

Good job George.

Kimi was unfortunate to misinterpret the flags but George was over 1.5 tenths up on him anyway, so I don't think Kimi was getting pole. Would have been close though.

[zibby43]

Russell said that he was half a second faster and lost half of it during lifting. Is that the case? I noticed that he had 1 tenth in total after S1 and S2 on his last lap over Leclerc. Where did he find 4 more tenths in such a short S3 that consist of one small straight before the yellow flag? Unless he kept all the battery for that one straight which is hard to believe as he would need it for the first part I find it hard to believe there wasnt something fishy here.

Mercedes W17 was otherworldly in S3 but here was George’s accounting:

“The lap was unbelievable. I don't know where it came from. I went through Turn 1 a tenth and a half quicker; in the second and third, I gained another tenth and a half; by Turn 4 I was already four and a half tenths ahead, then five tenths, five and a half tenths."

"Then, I saw a yellow flag, a simple yellow. I thought: 'Wow.’ So I eased off the throttle quite a bit. When I got to the middle of the corner, I saw the green flag. I didn't even get to see the car; it was way off the track. I lost a lot of time on that lap. I'd have loved to have completed that lap, because I think it would have ended up three or four tenths further ahead. It was just one of those laps where it feels like the car's on rails."

[Watto]

Russell said that he was half a second faster and lost half of it during lifting. Is that the case? I noticed that he had 1 tenth in total after S1 and S2 on his last lap over Leclerc. Where did he find 4 more tenths in such a short S3 that consist of one small straight before the yellow flag? Unless he kept all the battery for that one straight which is hard to believe as he would need it for the first part I find it hard to believe there wasnt something fishy here.

There was definitely a lift well before the corner you could hear it in the audio.


I haven't seen the throttle/brake traces yet. But to me there was nothing at all controversial.


What was I think was the sense that normally a car being put in the wall at a high speed corner does to should trigger double yellows or even a red flag. I think that is a fair debate to be had where safety should be a focus , but it was single waved yellows that has been confirmed from Georges on board etc, so no issue at all at least on Georges part.

Kimi made 2.5 tenths on Max in the first runs on the final sector, I think they might have mentioned that was all in a corner too, the one Max crashed on.

George just pulled a lap out under pressure when he needed to nothing more nothing less on his part.

[Watto]

Anybody have their S1 and S2 in that final lap?

https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/2070 ... 89805?s=20

[Badger]

Russell said that he was half a second faster and lost half of it during lifting. Is that the case? I noticed that he had 1 tenth in total after S1 and S2 on his last lap over Leclerc. Where did he find 4 more tenths in such a short S3 that consist of one small straight before the yellow flag? Unless he kept all the battery for that one straight which is hard to believe as he would need it for the first part I find it hard to believe there wasnt something fishy here.

Mercedes W17 was otherworldly in S3 but here was George’s accounting:

“The lap was unbelievable. I don't know where it came from. I went through Turn 1 a tenth and a half quicker; in the second and third, I gained another tenth and a half; by Turn 4 I was already four and a half tenths ahead, then five tenths, five and a half tenths."

"Then, I saw a yellow flag, a simple yellow. I thought: 'Wow.’ So I eased off the throttle quite a bit. When I got to the middle of the corner, I saw the green flag. I didn't even get to see the car; it was way off the track. I lost a lot of time on that lap. I'd have loved to have completed that lap, because I think it would have ended up three or four tenths further ahead. It was just one of those laps where it feels like the car's on rails."

He was definitely selling that a bit though, to make it seem like he slowed a lot more than he did. He was 1 tenth up on Kimi, Max, and Charles through S1 and S2. If you look at the delta on his pole lap he loses less than a tenth to the reference purple S3 time (Kimi) in the final two corners.

[Waz]

I'm not a George or Mercedes fan, but he played the game perfectly here. It was a single yellow in sector 15 for 22 seconds, he did a token lift and it was upgraded to double after he passed. Kimi messed up and misread the LED panel and thought it was a double when it was a single and should have done the same (which he admitted in interviews after).
That being said, the FIA accepting pole laps during yellows is not exactly safe, so FIA should be criticized for not having stricter guidelines for yellow, and not flagging it double immediately.

I think a Yellow in MotoGP cancels the lap.

I believe that if you are ahead of the incident, it should be no problem. But if you are behind, it's tough luck. Lift off and abort.

But this is an old argument.