Ferrari strategy forced Mercedes into dilemma, admits George Russell

George Russell admitted Ferrari’s initial stop with Lewis Hamilton prompted Mercedes to follow suit, forcing it into a compromised strategy for the rest of the race, paving the way for Hamilton’s win.

Hamilton won his first race as a Ferrari driver at the Barcelona Grand Prix and, while a mid-race Virtual Safety Car helped him pit and stay ahead of his former teammate, Russell acknowledged he would likely have made his way past anyway.

George Russell details Mercedes strategy after Lewis Hamilton victory

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Ferrari utilised a three-stop strategy with Hamilton with his first stop coming on Lap 12 of 66, which prompted Mercedes to pit Russell a lap later to avoid losing track position.

After Hamilton’s second stop, he quickly reeled in the Mercedes pair to an extent that it effectively blocked the Silver Arrows switching to a similar strategy without dropping behind the Ferrari.

With Mercedes committed to a two-stop and Hamilton taking another trip through the pit lane for fresh tyres, he was able to extend his advantage all the way to the chequered flag in the first non-Mercedes win of the 2026 season, over a full race distance.

Russell acknowledged Hamilton’s speed throughout, reasoning that, while he could have changed strategy mid-race, the potential cost of losing out to teammate Kimi Antonelli was also on his mind at the same time.

“I felt solid at the start, and just slowly eking out the gap to Lewis,” he explained to PlanetF1.com and others, “and he obviously committed quite early to the three-stop, and then we covered, but stuck on the two-stop.

“From that point onwards it was quite challenging, and just didn’t have the pace, and I wasn’t feeling too happy with the hard tyre.

“Lewis had really great pace. If I was in the race on my own and there were no other drivers, and I was in a two-stop, I would not have pitted on Lap 13.

“Now, you’re never in the race on your own, you’re reacting to your competitors, and they put us in a very challenging position to pit this early.

“The truth is, my pace wasn’t quite strong enough today, but I do think I could have just mirrored his strategy on the three-stop, but that would have maybe left me exposed to Kimi on the two-stop, and maybe I wouldn’t have been happy about that in the end. So, I need to go through it with my team.”

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Antonelli battled Russell in the closing stages and, while the young Italian made it past, that was soon scuppered when a power unit issue halted his race five laps from the end.

Russell now sits 50 points off the top of the standings, but has Hamilton in between himself and Antonelli, with the Ferrari driver’s victory moving him nine points clear of his compatriot.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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