Mercedes boss Andrew Shovlin looks back one more time at the team order from the Silver Arrows at Zandvoort. George Russell was told during the last Formula 1 race in the dunes that he had to let teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli pass. This gave the championship leader a second place and valuable points. However, the swap was mainly to Russell’s advantage, Shovlin states: ‘In a direct fight with Kimi, George would have lost time to the Ferraris’.
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Mercedes can look back with satisfaction on the last Dutch GP with a second and third place. The Silver Arrows secured valuable championship points in their battle with Ferrari, although George Russell had to watch teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli pull further ahead of him in the drivers’ championship. The fact that the championship leader ultimately crossed the finish line in second place was partly due to a rare team order from Mercedes.
Mercedes boss Andrew Shovlin explains why the Silver Arrows eventually had the two drivers swap positions. “In lap 55, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, and both Ferraris took advantage of that. As a result, they would be running on fresh tires at the restart,” Shovlin says in the Mercedes Debrief. “In lap 56, we still had a chance to get Kimi in for a pit stop and get him back on track ahead of those two Ferraris, putting him in an excellent position to finish ahead of them.”
Too much time loss for Russell
Russell, however, did not have that luxury. “And George, well, he was running in fourth place before that,” the boss continues. “Kimi dropped behind George after the pit stop. So why did we reverse the cars? Well, that was actually to save George race time.” Shovlin then explains how a battle between Kimi Antonelli and Russell for second place could have ultimately cost the Brit a podium position altogether.
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“Kimi had enough grip to get past George, but 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 try to get past,” the British boss says. “As it turned out, George defended brilliantly and it was great to see him on the podium. He really deserved that result.”
‘Nice to see George is back’
For Shovlin, a highlight of the Dutch GP was Russell’s defensive work against Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. “There was no guarantee he could hold those positions, and a few times it looked like Lewis might get past on the inside. George did just enough to prevent that. That was really impressive. It’s so nice to see George fully back.”
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