The 2026 F1 Dutch GP weekend ended for George Russell with a hard-fought P3. However, the story afterwards was as much about strategy as it was about pace. Russell was pressed on why he handed the place back to his teammate Kimi Antonelli. Along with that, he was also questioned on just how close Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton came to snatching the final podium spot away in the closing laps.
The team order call for Russell at the F1 Dutch GP
Russell was asked to talk through his thought process on giving the position back to Antonelli as the Italian was on a fresh soft vs a worn hard. He was also questioned whether holding him up had ever been under consideration as the Ferraris were coming quickly.
“We’ve always said as a team, when we’re on different strategies, we’ve never going to fight and we’re always going to invert, and that’s always just been our sort of rules. And the fact is Kimi [Antonelli] was ahead of me before the VSC and he tried something different to, you know, protect us as a team. He kind of copy-pasted what the Ferraris did.
“Yeah, could I have kept him behind? Maybe. But equally, you know, it could have been a P5 as well. So, in the end, you know, he deserved to be P2. I think P3 was a fair result for me, and yes, a long season,” He said.
The explanation was simple. Antonelli held track position before the Virtual Safety Car struck. The swap reflected a long-standing internal rule rather than any lack of pace.
Holding off Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps
Russell had also detailed just how tough the closing laps of the F1 Dutch GP were with Lewis Hamilton bearing down on him. Before the VSC to clear Ocon’s car, he had been closing on his teammate. The seven-time World Champion also got a cheap stop under it.
“Yeah, it was tough. The first VSC came at a pretty awkward timing for me because I felt really strong on the hard. I think Kimi’s [Antonelli] and my race was kind of the opposite. I had a tough medium stint, he had a very strong medium stint, then i had a strong hard stint, he was struggling.
“But that VSC gave Lewis the free pit stop and obviously Kimi [Antonelli] pitted as well. And from there on in, I knew I was going to be under threat, but I was managing enough in the high-speed corners to allow me to be fast in Sector 3 and defending into Turn 1.
“So I was pleased with that performance. But as Kimi [Antonelli] said, it’s been a challenging couple of weekends now for us as a team. McLaren are mighty impressive and Ferrari’s race pace today also looked really strong.”
The same Virtual Safety Car that triggered the team order call also handed Hamilton a free pit stop, losing only about eight seconds in the pit lane instead of the usual 20 seconds. This turned a comfortable buffer into a genuine fight to the flag. Russell’s defensive driving through Sector 2 and into Turn 1 during the F1 Dutch GP held firm all the way home.
Assessing Mercedes’ pace at F1 Dutch GP
The British driver was asked to weigh up his own pace across the weekend. In response, Russell pointed to the type of the circuit as the reason McLaren looked so strong from the front.
“Yeah, I think, you know, when you’re out front, things are always much easier and always very challenging for the car behind to overtake unless you’re on an offset strategy. But I don’t think it’s a major surprise for us, seeing how competitive Lando [Norris] was this weekend, considering he won in Budapest.
“It’s a very similar circuit with the long corners, high tyre degradation, with the two-stop strategy, so there’s a lot of similarities between the two circuits. I think this may continue for the comping two or three races until we start to bring more to the car, and fingers crossed our competitors don’t,” he explained.
Budapest and Zandvoort both have long corners and high degradation that have consistently favoured McLaren recently.
Russell was candid that Mercedes may face a similar uphill battle over the next few race weekends until fresh upgrades arrive. It is a challenge that will follow the team, and Russell specially, well beyond the F1 Dutch GP round.
A cleaner, more relaxed weekend
Russell was also followed up on his comments made on the Friday of the F1 Dutch GP. The British driver felt relaxed heading into the weekend, but had that mindset carried through to the race itself?
“Yeah, I feel good, to be honest. It’s been a very positive weekend as a whole, and I think, you know, I’ve not been on the podium in three races or so now. And given the fact that we’re nowhere near as dominant as we once were, I think this has been a very solid weekend all in all. You know, I was not on the podium at times when we had the best car and Kimi [Antonelli] was performing right at the very front.
“Now, you know, the pace between the two of us looks very similar and, yeah, that’s a good step forward for me. It’s been a cleaner weekend. I’m not dealing with as many issues as I’ve faced at the end of that first half of the season, and it’s just allowing me to focus on the job. But, as I said, I think these coming two or three race weekends will be a challenge for us both, purely because we’re out of sync with the upgrades.”
Between the team order call and the late fight with Hamilton, the F1 Dutch GP gave a clear read on where Russell’s form currently stands. He is solid and honest about the car’s limitations, and settled heading into a stretch that Mercedes knows will be tough.
