Russell accepts Mercedes team orders at Dutch GP as Antonelli seals second ahead of him

George Russell accepted Mercedes’ call to hand second place to team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on Sunday, with the Briton admitting the team orders were “the right decision” as both drivers finished on the podium behind race winner Lando Norris.

The sequence of events that led to the swap was triggered by a late virtual safety car caused by a stricken Esteban Ocon. At that point, Antonelli was running second and Russell fourth, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton splitting them. Hamilton used the VSC window to make a cheap pitstop for used soft tyres on lap 56 of 72, forcing Mercedes to bring Antonelli in to defend against the undercut. Russell was kept out, which effectively handed him second on the road — but on older hard tyres, he quickly came under pressure from Antonelli, who had returned on fresher rubber.

Mercedes then issued the order for Russell to move aside. He complied without significant delay, though not before questioning the instruction as he fought to protect a podium finish. A second late VSC ultimately helped him hold off Hamilton for third, giving Mercedes a double podium on a day McLaren outperformed them for the second consecutive race weekend.

Reflecting afterwards, Russell acknowledged the logic of the decision. “Kimi was ahead of me anyway, so he deserved to finish ahead,” he said. “When you’re in the race, you want to fight for every single position. But with the pace, with the new tyre, he would have overtaken anyway, so it was the right decision. I’m just happy to be standing on the podium. It’s been a little while for me. It’s been a strong weekend overall, so I’ll take the positives.”

Antonelli, who extended his championship lead over Hamilton with the second-place finish, praised his team-mate’s cooperation while flagging concern over McLaren’s recent form. “George was a great team player and really happy for him to have held on to P3 as well,” the Italian said.

“It was a very intense race and I managed to get the lead. In stint one I felt okay, but then from stint two onwards, I just didn’t have the feeling with the car. I was sliding a lot overall and at the end Lando passed me and I knew I had no chance after that. We need to find a little bit of time because McLaren have made a huge step.”