George Russell has conceded that Mercedes' decision to keep Kimi Antonelli ahead of him at the end of the Dutch Grand Prix was the "right decision", as the pair battled for second place behind race winner Lando Norris.
At Zandvoort, Antonelli and Russell ran second and fourth, split by Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, before a late virtual safety car for Esteban Ocon's stricken car added a final twist to a chaotic afternoon. Hamilton pitted for fresh soft tyres on lap 56, forcing Mercedes to react by bringing Antonelli in to cover the undercut.
Russell, however, was left out on older hard tyres, which meant he would have lost track position to Hamilton anyway. Mercedes then ordered Russell to let his championship-leading team-mate through, a request he initially questioned as he fought to salvage a podium. A second VSC helped Russell hold off Hamilton for third, securing a double podium for Mercedes on a day when they were again outperformed by McLaren.
In hindsight, Russell admitted the swap was the correct call, as Antonelli would have passed him anyway on much fresher tyres. "Kimi was ahead of me anyway, so he deserved to finish ahead," Russell 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 thanked Russell for playing the team game, though he was concerned by McLaren's strong pace over the past two race weekends. "George was a great team player and really happy for him to have held on to P3 as well," the Italian added. "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."
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