By Alan Baldwin
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands, Aug 23 (Reuters) – George Russell defended Mercedes for imposing team orders in favour of his Formula One championship-leading teammate and title rival Kimi Antonelli at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Briton was in second place late in the race with Antonelli closing in fast on fresher soft tyres and with two Ferraris behind, all benefitting from pitting during a virtual safety car (VSC) period while Russell had stayed out.
Mercedes gave the instruction over the radio to “invert” the cars, meaning swap positions rather than fight for position, with Russell doing so after initially questioning why it was necessary.
After Antonelli finished second to McLaren’s Lando Norris and Russell held on to third place for a double Mercedes podium, the two teammates exchanged friendly gestures and put the matter to rest.
“I mean, Kimi was ahead of me anyway, so he deserved to finish ahead,” said Russell.
“Of course, when you’re in the race, you want to fight for every single position, but with the pace, with a new tyre, he would have overtaken anyway. So it’s the right decision and (I am) just happy to be standing on the podium,” Russell said.
Antonelli thanked Russell for making his life easier.
“I feel we put George at risk with having to let me by and everything. But I still think, at the end of the day, it was a great team execution with how things were,” said the Italian, now 59 points clear of his teammate and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Team boss Toto Wolff said team orders were always harsh for a driver but the team had prepared for such situations.
“It wasn’t a very difficult call because Kimi was running second clear of George (before the pitstop) and that’s basically the order we restored. So, completely normal,” said the Austrian. “We would have done it the other way around also.”
Mercedes said Russell would have dropped behind Hamilton, who finished fourth, had he also pitted during the VSC period. The team said the switch gave them the best possible chance of retaining second place on a day when they lacked the pace to win.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Mark Porter)
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