Wolff defends team orders as Russell backs Mercedes’ rules

Team principal Toto Wolff says Mercedes has always agreed how it would impose team orders after asking George Russell to move over for teammate Kimi Antonelli late in the Dutch Grand Prix.

Antonelli had led the first half of the race but after being overtaken by Lando Norris while struggling on the hard compound tire, Mercedes took the opportunity to pit him under a late virtual safety car. That dropped Antonelli behind Russell with the two Ferrari drivers in close proximity, and Russell was asked to move over for the championship leader and give up second place in the final 10 laps.

“Obviously, team orders are always harsh from one driver's perspective,” Wolff said. “You can't expect a lion in the car and then a walkover at the same time. But it's what we always discuss and was something we agree always in the Sunday morning strategy meeting. We're not losing time with each other if there's competitors breathing down the neck.

“We've seen it with the Ferraris at the beginning of the year in Shanghai. You just lose so much race time, you're losing more points, and that's why we are pre-emptively trying to be proactive – not reactive – and avoid losing any points.

“And today wasn't a very difficult call because Kimi was running second, clear of George, and that's basically the order we restored after the stop. So completely normal modus operandi and we would have done it the other way around also.”

Russell concurred that it was an expected call from the team, despite questioning whether Antonelli was in the mix for victory on team radio.

“We've always said as a team when we're on different strategies we're never going to fight and we're always going to invert,” Russell said. “That's always just been our sort of rules and the fact is Kimi was ahead of me before the VSC and he tried something different to protect us as a team. He kind of copy-pasted what the Ferraris did.

“Could I have kept him behind? Maybe, but equally it could have been a P5 as well. So in the end he deserved to be P2. I think P3 was a fair result for me and it's a long season.”

For Antonelli’s part, the Italian thanked his teammate for how he responded to the situation, but he felt Mercedes could have avoided creating the need for the order.

“It was a difficult second half for me, especially in the last stint of the hard, just really struggling. I had little confidence in the car and it was not easy," he said. "And then obviously we pitted and also then was a bit tricky, but then also George – I have to thank him because he made my life a lot easier.

“But I still think we probably could have stayed out and go until the end with the same set, because it put us a little bit at risk. Also 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.

“I think today P2 was the maximum we could have done because the pace of the McLarens, especially in the second half, was just too strong.”