Russell: If there's a gravel trap, drivers would treat track limits differently

Russell's suggestion came after numerous penalties and warnings given to drivers for violating the white lines drawn by the Race Direction at Spielberg, not to mention lap times that were deleted during qualifying.

Sergio Perez was even penalized after reaching Q3 in qualifying for a track violation in Q2, as the delayed decision by the stewards denied him a chance to have another Q2 lap, and they reason they gave was that they were overloaded with incidents.

The stewards said at the time that the delayed decision was "a consequence of having many situations to examine in each session" in their document 27 on July 8, 2022.

There was also some debate regarding racing incidents between drivers in the Sprint Race (Alex Albon and Lando Norris at Turn 3 - Albon found to be the culprit) as well as in the race where Russell was penalized for causing a collision with Perez who was on the outside of Turn 4 on the opening lap.

An identical incident involving Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel took place at the same corner later in the race for which Gasly was penalized.

Russell - a director in the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) - was quizzed by the media about these incidents, he said: "I mean, there is a sort of 'black and white' of what you can and can't do, but there's never a black and white when you race, because every single incident is different.

"It's such a difficult position for everyone involved, but it's just getting a bit out of hand," he added.

Russell believes that issue is being treated superficially, pointing out: "It goes back to the root cause.

"If there was a gravel trap there, probably both the drivers would have treated that differently, the outcome would have been different, the penalty may have been different...

"We need to – instead of going around in circles and trying to find the best compromise – solve the root cause. [Then] we won't be in this situation."

"It's so difficult for us drivers at the moment, judging a white line, as you can't feel a white line," he claimed.

"Racing side-by-side, if you get pushed off, you're gonna keep your foot in to try and attack again at the next corner, but if there's a gravel trap there, or something else that will penalise you, both drivers will approach it differently."

"I think we do feel listened to," the Mercedes driver said about the drivers' relation with the FIA. "But they can't just change the rules week in, week out when one driver pipes up and says, 'I think this, I think that'.

"They do need to stick to their guns, but it just needs to be enforced consistently and it needs to be clear to all of us," the GPDA director insisted.

"I think the penalties need to be a bit more consistent and that will only come if there's consistency from the people policing the regulations," the 24-year-old maintained.