Mercedes explains Dutch GP team orders were aimed at helping George Russell

Mercedes has explained its decision to intervene in the battle between its drivers at the Dutch Grand Prix by using team orders to promote Kimi Antonelli. 

Russell joined eventual race winner Lando Norris as the only front-running drivers not to stop for fresh tyres during a late-race virtual safety car period. Although this decision left him open to an attack from behind, it also vaulted him briefly into second place. 

Had he been able to maintain tyre life in the same way that Norris was, this could have seen him stand on the second step of the podium, but instead, team-mate Antonelli cruised up to his gearbox before the team instructed that the positions be switched, leaving him to fend off Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. 

Explaining the decision that put at risk a double-podium outcome, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin told the Mercedes Debrief: "The VSC came out on lap 55, both Ferraris took it. So they were going to be on fresh rubber by the restart.

"On lap 56, we still had a window where we could get Kimi in and put him ahead of both of those Ferraris, which put him in a great position to finish ahead of them.

"And George, well, he was running P4 prior to that. Kimi dropped behind George after the stop. Now, why did we invert the cars? Well, that was really about saving George race time.

"Kimi had the grip to get through, but if we allowed them to race each other, George would have lost time to the Ferraris and the Ferraris would have had more time to attack and try and get through. Now as it happened, George defended brilliantly and it was great to see him on the podium. He really deserved that result."

Russell was aided in his defence of third place by a further virtual safety car intervention, which allowed some respite from constant defending into braking zones. 

Turning to Russell's performance, Shovlin added: "One of the highlights of the race was just seeing how brilliantly George defended against those Ferraris.

"There was no guarantee he was going to be able to hold those positions, and on a couple of occasions, Lewis looked like he was going to get down the inside. George did just enough to prevent it happening. 

"So really impressive, and honestly, he's put together a really impressive weekend, start to finish, sprint pole, sprint victory, and very solid qualifying, and really smart racing. So good to see George getting back into it."