(Motorsport-Total.com) – The explicit team order at the Formula 1 race in Zandvoort was not meant to help championship leader Kimi Antonelli get past his teammate George Russell, but rather to help the Briton achieve a better result, as Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin reveals.
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Russell, who was in second place, was asked at the end of the race in the Netherlands to let teammate Antonelli pass. Russell of course did not like this at all, as he would let his championship rival pass him without a fight, which would of course increase his deficit in the championship – nevertheless, he finally agreed.
But according to Mercedes, this decision was meant to help secure Russell’s podium. He had not pitted during the VSC phase in lap 55 of 72, while Antonelli and the two Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had put on fresh tires.
Due to the decision, Russell initially gained two positions against Antonelli and Hamilton, but would come under pressure from them in the final phase.
Since Antonelli was on significantly better tires and would potentially have passed anyway, Mercedes did not want Russell to get involved in a duel with the sister car. This gave him a better chance to defend against the Ferrari drivers.
“The VSC came out on lap 55, [and] both Ferraris used it. So they would be on fresh tires at the restart,” explains chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin in the Mercedes debrief video for the Netherlands race, which was distributed via the team’s social media channels.
Russell was not to lose time
“On lap 56, we still had a window in which we could bring Kimi in and get him back on track ahead of both Ferraris, which put him in an excellent position to finish ahead of them.”
“Kimi fell behind George after the stop. So why did we swap the cars? Well, it was really about saving George race time,” emphasizes Shovlin. “Kimi had the grip to pass. If we had let them race each other, George would have lost time to the Ferraris, and the Ferraris would have had more time to attack and find a way past.”
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Antonelli passed Russell on lap 66, who then had the two Ferraris on his tail but was able to keep them behind until the finish. “As it turned out, George defended brilliantly, and it was great to see him on the podium. He really deserved this result,” says Shovlin.
For him, Russell’s defense was “one of the highlights of the race,” as he says. “There was no guarantee he would be able to hold these positions, and on a few occasions it looked like Lewis was going to try on the inside.”
“George did just enough to prevent that. Really impressive, and honestly he had a really strong weekend from start to finish: sprint pole, sprint win, a very solid qualifying and a really smart race,” he praises. “Nice to see George getting back into form.”
Russell understanding after the race
Immediately after the race, Russell himself said that he never intended to ignore the instruction, although he had asked the Mercedes command during the race about the intention behind the call.
“As a team, we have always said: If we are on different strategies, we will never fight each other but always swap positions,” he said. “That has always been our rule. And the fact is that Kimi was ahead of me before the VSC and he tried something different to secure us as a team. He basically copied what the Ferraris did.”
“Yes, could I have kept him behind? Maybe. But it could just as well have been P5,” said the Brit. “In the end, he deserved to be in P2. I think P3 was a championship-appropriate result for me, and yes, it’s still a long season.”
With 23 points scored over the weekend, Russell’s deficit to Antonelli in the championship remained unchanged compared to the situation before Zandvoort – thanks to the Briton’s sprint win. He still gained one position over Hamilton and moved up to second place in the overall standings, although he is tied on points with the Ferrari driver.
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