Russell is not Antonelli’s wingman
The Dutch GP at Zandvoort was quite hectic, a real tactical puzzle for all the pit walls also because there was always the risk of rain to monitor. In the end, the race was completely dry and Lando Norris came out on top, winning his second consecutive race after the victory in Hungary.
Mercedes can still celebrate a double podium with Andrea Kimi Antonelli ahead of George Russell. During a Virtual Safety Car near the end of the race, the Mercedes pit wall took advantage to stop Antonelli, who was struggling with the second set of hard tires, to put on soft tires.
In this way, however, Antonelli lost position to George Russell who was a gentleman to give way at the request of the Mercedes pit wall after timidly pointing out that Antonelli was not fighting for the win because he did not have the pace to catch Lando Norris.
Toto Wolff explained that this decision does not automatically make Russell Antonelli’s wingman: “No, these are the rules – Wolff’s words to Sky referring to the engagement rules between Mercedes drivers – we simply restored the original positions before Antonelli’s free pit-stop under VSC.” Russell has reached Hamilton in second place in the Drivers’ standings, both trailing Antonelli by 59 points, who has essentially ‘evened out’ between yesterday and today with his teammate.
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