'Lack of control' Russell given meaningless five-place grid penalty

George Russell has been hit with a meaningless five-place grid penalty for the Turkish Grand Prix after being accused of lacking control of his Williams by the stewards.

Russell had already been ordered to start from the back of the grid due to power unit infringements after taking a fourth internal combustion engine, turbocharger and MGU-H.

Russel has since been found guilty of breaching yellow-flag rules during what proved to be a chaotic qualifying session at Istanbul Park exacerbated by wet conditions on an already very greasy surface after it was recently relaid.

A stewards' report read: "The stewards heard from the driver of car 63 [George Russell], the team representative and have reviewed video, telemetry and marshalling system evidence.

"Car 63 approached turn two, which was under double-yellow flags for car 26 [Daniel Kvyat] who was spinning off track on the outside of the turn.

"While car 63 made an attempt to slow when encountering the double-yellow flags, in the opinion of the stewards he slowed insufficiently and did not have his car under full control as he approached and then passed car 26.

"This lack of full control clearly breaches the regulations.

"The driver also set a meaningful lap time on this lap which in and of itself breaches the requirements set out by the race director’s notes."

Aside from the grid penalty, Russell has also had three penalty points imposed on his licence, giving him a total of six points in the past 12 months.

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