Wolff defends Mercedes’ Dutch GP team orders decision
Toto Wolff has explained Mercedes' team orders call during the Dutch GP.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has defended the side’s decision to impose team orders on George Russell during the Dutch GP.
Russell came into the weekend at Zandvoort adamant that team orders were not under consideration at Mercedes, despite him trailing 59 points behind championship leader and team-mate Kimi Antonelli, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton sandwiching the duo.
Toto Wolff explains Mercedes team orders decision
However, Russell was told to let Antonelli past into second place late in the race, a call he abided with into Turn 1 with six laps to go, as Mercedes recorded a double podium.
Russell had lined up as the lead Mercedes on the grid, but he lost out to Antonelli at the start, with the Italian then also overtaking pole-sitter Lando Norris when Max Verstappen’s crash triggered a stoppage that prompted a standing restart on Lap 5.
Having seen him surrender the lead to Norris on Lap 54, though, Mercedes elected to capitalise on a Virtual Safety Car two laps later to pit Antonelli for a third time, dropping him behind Russell, who was instructed not to halt his team-mate’s progress.
Despite questioning the rationale behind the order over team radio, Russell, on 26-lap-old Hard tyres, abided and allowed Antonelli back into second place into Turn 1.
Wolff has denied that the decision represented a U-turn on his previous stance that Mercedes would avoid using team orders to maximise Antonelli’s chances, citing that the call was appropriate in the circumstances with the hard-charging Ferraris lurking.
When asked by PlanetF1 whether he was worried there could be a disconnect between the team and Russell that would need solving, Wolff replied: “No, I don’t think there will be anything between.
“Obviously, team orders are always harsh.
“When from one driver’s perspective, you can’t expect a lion in the car and then a walkover at the same time, but it’s what we always discuss.
“It was something we agree always on the Sunday morning strategy meeting: We’re not losing time with each other if there’s competitors breathing down your neck.
“We’ve seen it with the Ferraris at the beginning of the year, I think in Shanghai. You lose so much race time, we risk losing more points, and that’s why we are trying to be proactive and avoid losing any points.
“And today wasn’t a very difficult call because Kimi was running second, clear of George, and that’s basically the order we restored after the stop. So completely normal, and we would have done it the other way around also.”
Reporting by Taylor Powling, additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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