Kimi Antonelli praised the attitude of George Russell, who agreed to give up his second place in the final laps of the Dutch Grand Prix. An important team order in the fight for the title.
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Mercedes left Zandvoort with both of its drivers on the podium, but the finishing order could have been reversed. In the final laps of the Dutch Grand Prix, George Russell was in second place ahead of Kimi Antonelli when the German team asked him to let his teammate pass.
Russell complied without resistance, allowing the championship leader to finish second behind Lando Norris. Antonelli did not fail to highlight the attitude of his teammate after the race.
“George was really an excellent team player” said the Italian, pleased to also see Russell manage to keep his place on the podium against Lewis Hamilton.
Antonelli had nevertheless taken the lead
The race had started perfectly for Antonelli. Third on the grid, the Mercedes driver took advantage of a difficult start for Russell to immediately seize second place.
After the red flag caused by the violent accident of Max Verstappen, Antonelli did even better. At the restart on the fifth lap, he took the lead over Norris at the first corner and settled in front.
“It was a very intense race. I managed to take the lead and, during the first stint, I felt pretty good”, explains Antonelli.
However, the situation gradually became more difficult for the championship leader.
The Mercedes loses efficiency
From his second stint, Antonelli no longer found the same feeling behind the wheel of his Mercedes.
“From the second stint, I simply didn’t have the same feeling with the car. I was sliding a lot.”
Norris, who had shifted his strategy to have fresher tires, gradually caught up with the Mercedes. The Briton eventually found an opening and took the lead on lap 54.
Antonelli quickly realized that he no longer had the tools to match the pace of the McLaren.
“Lando passed me and I knew that after that, I had no chance.”
A virtual safety car would nevertheless offer a last opportunity to Mercedes.
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Russell sacrifices his second place
Mercedes took advantage of the neutralization to call Antonelli to the pits and fit him with new soft tires. Russell stayed on track and thus regained second position, but with much more worn hard tires.
Antonelli quickly caught up with his teammate and Mercedes decided to intervene. Six laps from the finish, Russell was ordered to give up his position to give the Italian a chance to catch Norris.
The Briton accepted the order even though he then found himself directly under threat from Hamilton. He finally managed to hold off the Ferrari and preserve third place.
“George was an excellent team player and I am really happy that he also managed to keep third place.”
An important team order for the championship
The stakes went far beyond the simple result of Mercedes at Zandvoort. Antonelli and Russell are also rivals in the fight for the championship.
The position swap represents a six-point gap between the two drivers. Antonelli now has a 59-point lead over Russell, who is tied with Hamilton with 183 points.
Russell’s victory in the sprint had allowed him to gain three points on his teammate, but the Grand Prix result cancels out this gain. Antonelli thus leaves the Netherlands with the same lead over Russell as before the weekend and nine additional points over Hamilton.
Antonelli warns Mercedes about McLaren
Despite this double podium, Antonelli believes Mercedes cannot be entirely satisfied with its weekend. The pace shown by Norris in the second half of the race is notably a warning.
McLaren has just achieved two consecutive wins with its world champion and seems to have made significant progress since the start of the season.
“As a team, we now need to find a bit more performance, because McLaren has made a huge step forward. So we need to keep pushing.”
Mercedes retains the championship advantage thanks to Antonelli, but McLaren’s current momentum could make the second half of the season much more contested.
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