Red Bull have launched a protest into George Russell‘s victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, plunging the Mercedes driver’s fourth career win into doubt. The Brit crossed the line ahead of Max Verstappen under safety car conditions with Kimi Antonelli behind them in third.

Representatives of both Russell and Verstappen have been called to the stewards to discuss the protest, which stems from the Brit’s driving standards under safety car conditions at the end of the Grand Prix.

The duo started on the front row after one of the best qualifying sessions of the season, and despite a plethora of pre-race speculation, navigated the opening exchanges without any close encounters. Verstappen kept the Brit honest throughout, never dropping more than a few seconds behind his rear wing, but there were no true wheel-to-wheel battles for the lead.

If Russell were to lose his triumph in Montreal, it would be a bitter pill for the 27-year-old to swallow. He lost an exceptional victory in Belgium last year post-race after his car came in underweight, handing the P1 spot over to team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

As was the case in Belgium, Russell’s race management was sublime on Sunday. “It’s amazing to be back on the top step, obviously the last time for us was back in Vegas,” he said after climbing out of the car. “I thought last year for us was a victory lost, and then obviously we got the victory today, probably due to the incredible pole lap yesterday.

“So happy to see Kimi on the podium as well, so it’s an amazing day for the team – thanks to everybody back at the factory who’s been working so hard to get us back fighting for victories. It feels good.”

While Mercedes‘ double podium in Montreal is a good omen heading into the Austrian Grand Prix, Russell isn’t working under the assumption that they will be fighting for wins once again. Throughout the ground effect era, the Silver Arrows have enjoyed short spurts fighting at the head of the field, and on each occasion, this was followed by a return to the second-to-fourth battle.

“No, it’s a little bit cooler around here – we saw it last year here in Canada,” he continued. “I’d love to get our hopes up, but I think the strength of our car is in these cooler conditions. Let’s see going into the upcoming races, but we’ll just enjoy it for now.

“Time will tell. I mean we won Austria last year so maybe that’s a good omen, but we’ll enjoy it for the time being. We did have high expectations coming into this weekend and it worked out as we thought.”