The FIA explained the severity of the fine for Russell

      Usually, when a driver overtakes outside the track and does not return to position, he is penalized with a 10-second penalty, but in Monaco, the stewards punished George Russell with a pit lane penalty and explained the reason for such a serious fine.

      Before the start of the weekend, the race director, at the request of the stewards, warned the teams that if the chicane was cut off, the punishment would be more severe than adding 10 seconds to the result, so that the riders would not be tempted to overtake off the track, and then win back the ten-second penalty by simply increasing the speed, because the pace of the race was relatively small.

      Nevertheless, Russell did such an overtaking move, and when the team asked him to return the position, he did not do so, saying that he "wanted to race." The stewards didn't like it.

      "It was clear from the radio message in which Russell said he agreed to the fine that he had overtaken intentionally, feeling that car #23 was holding him back.

      Anticipating that similar situations could occur at the Monaco Grand Prix, the race director (at the request of the stewards) informed the teams in advance that the stewards would carefully consider intentionally leaving the track at Turn 10 to overtake one or more slow cars.

      This message stated that a 10-second penalty may not be sufficient in the case of a deliberate violation, and that the actual penalty may be more severe. We considered that the deliberate violation of the rules by car #63 deserves to be punished by driving in the pit lane," the FIA document says.