Juan Pablo Montoya raises doubts about George Russell's penalty at the F1 United States Grand Prix.
Former Formula 1 racer Juan Pablo Montoya expressed his "surprise" regarding George Russell's penalty during the United States Grand Prix, contending that the Mercedes driver did not actually gain any advantage from the situation.
Russell received a five-second penalty for leaving the track at Turn 12 and re-entering ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri on the first lap at the Circuit of the Americas. He ultimately finished in eighth place, while his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli secured the victory.
During F1 TV's post-race discussion in Austin, Montoya maintained that Russell's maneuver did not lead to any benefit.
"I’m surprised about the penalty for George, because he didn’t really gain any advantage," Montoya stated. "If he had gained an advantage, he would have been alongside Hadjar.
"He wouldn’t have had a McLaren next to him. So I was quite taken aback by that. But you’ve got to leave it to the FIA. They have their perspective."
As they head into the next event, Russell is positioned second in the championship standings, but faces pressure from Lewis Hamilton, who trails him by just one point in third place, as well as Max Verstappen in fourth and Charles Leclerc in fifth.
What led to George Russell's penalty during the 2026 United States Grand Prix?
The stewards imposed a five-second penalty on Russell for leaving the track and "gaining a lasting advantage".
George Russell, Mercedes
"The stewards examined positioning/marshalling system data, video footage, and in-car video evidence, along with submissions from the teams of Cars 63 and 81 via the FIA Evidence Channel," the official FIA statement noted.
"The driver of Car 63 was defending his position against Car 81 into Turn 12 and left the track, subsequently rejoining ahead of Car 81, just before Turn 13. He maintained that position. Consequently, the stewards determined that he had left the track, rejoined it, and gained a lasting advantage.
"The standard penalty for this is a 10-second penalty; however, the stewards considered that the driver of Car 63 had previously been pressuring Car 6, which placed Car 81 in an attacking position (and thus Car 63 in a defending position). Moreover, since this was a first-lap incident, we concluded that the penalty should be reduced to 5 seconds."
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