Montoya questions Russell's COTA penalty, insisting Mercedes driver gained no advantage

Juan Pablo Montoya has publicly questioned the five-second penalty given to George Russell at the 2026 United States Grand Prix, saying the Mercedes driver did not benefit from leaving the track at Turn 12 on the opening lap at the Circuit of the Americas.

Russell was penalised for rejoining the circuit ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri after running wide, with the FIA stewards ruling he had gained a “lasting advantage”. He ultimately finished eighth, while his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli took the race victory.

Speaking on F1 TV’s post-race show in Austin, Montoya — a two-time COTA winner during his own F1 career — was unconvinced by the stewards’ verdict.

“I’m surprised about the penalty for George, because he didn’t really gain an advantage,” Montoya said. “If he had gained an advantage, he would have been next to Hadjar. He wouldn’t have had a McLaren next to him. So I was kind of surprised with that. But you’ve got to leave it to the FIA. They have their point of view.”

The stewards, however, were explicit in their reasoning. Their official statement confirmed they reviewed positioning data, video, and in-car footage before concluding that Russell “left the track, rejoined it and gained a lasting advantage” by retaining his position ahead of Piastri heading into Turn 13.

The standard penalty for such an infringement is ten seconds, but the stewards opted to halve it, citing mitigating circumstances. They noted that Russell had been under pressure from Piastri partly as a result of his own earlier defending against another car, and that the incident occurred on the first lap — a factor the stewards said warranted leniency.

The penalty has consequences beyond Sunday’s result. Russell heads into the next round second in the Drivers’ Championship, but his lead over Lewis Hamilton has been trimmed to a single point. Max Verstappen sits fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth, keeping the title fight tightly contested with several rounds still to run.