Stewards explain why George Russell was handed a 5s time penalty during today's Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver was defending his position from Oscar Piastri into Turn 12 and left the track, then proceeded to rejoin in front of the McLaren, prior to Turn 13.

He retained that position. Accordingly, he was determined to have left the track, rejoined it and gained a lasting advantage.

The normal penalty for this is a 10 second penalty, however the stewards considered that Russell had previously been pressuring Isack Hadjar and that put Piastri into an attacking position (and therefore Russell into a defending position). Further, this was a first lap incident and in their determination, the penalty should be mitigated to 5 seconds.

In another incident, at the entry to Turn 11, Gabriel Bortoleto moved to overtake Franco Colapinto on the outside. The Alpine driver stayed alongside and in that battle Bortoleto left the edge of the track and rejoined ahead of the Argentine.

Under the Driving Standards Guidelines, had the front axle of the Audi been ahead at the apex, the Brazilian would have been entitled to racing room on the inside. However, there was no racing room on the inside which explained why Bortoleto left the edge of the track. Had the front axle of the Alpine been ahead of the front axle of the Audi at the apex, Colapinto was not obliged to leave racing room on the outside.

The stewards were unable, by reference to the available evidence, to reach a level of comfortable satisfaction as to which of the two cars was ahead at the apex and in these circumstances determined to take no further action.

Finally, Oliver Bearman moved to overtake Pirre Gasly at Turn 11. The front axle of the Haas was not ahead of the mirror of the Alpine at the apex where a collision occurred between the two cars.

The stewards determined that the Haas driver was wholly to blame for the collision and imposed a 10 second penalty accordingly.