George Russell defends Mercedes team orders that favoured teammate Kimi Antonelli

[p]The Briton ‌was in second place late in the race with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Antonelli[/a] closing in fast ‌on fresher soft tyres and with two Ferraris behind, ‌all benefitting from pitting during a virtual safety car (VSC) period while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]‌Russell[/a] had stayed out.[/p][p]Mercedes gave the instruction over the radio ‌to "invert" the cars, meaning swap positions rather than fight for position, with Russell doing so after initially questioning why it was necessary.[/p][p]After Antonelli ‌finished second to McLaren's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/norris-lando/WSVABbVF/"]Lando Norris[/a] and Russell ⁠held on to third ‌place for a double Mercedes podium, the two teammates exchanged friendly gestures ​and put the matter to rest.[/p][p][b]"I mean, Kimi was ahead of me anyway, so he deserved to finish ​ahead," [/b]said Russell.[/p][p]"Of course, when you’re in the race, you want to fight for every single position, but with the pace, ⁠with a new ​tyre, he would have overtaken anyway. So it’s the right decision and (I am) just happy to be standing on the podium," Russell said.[/p][embed guid="9f4b37f5-443d-450b-bbab-1fbcbae7a068" url="https://x.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/2091606406378008956" social-type="twitter" /][p]Antonelli thanked Russell for making his life easier.[/p][p][b]"I feel we put ‌George at risk with having to let me by and everything. But I still think, at the end of the day, it was a great team execution with how things were,"[/b] said the Italian, now 59 points clear of his teammate and Ferrari's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Lewis Hamilton[/a].[/p][p]Team boss Toto Wolff said team orders were always harsh for a driver but the team had prepared for such situations.[/p][p][b]"It wasn't a very difficult call because ‌Kimi was running second clear of George (before the pitstop) and that's ​basically the order we restored. So, completely normal," [/b]said ‌the Austrian. "We would have done it the other way around also."[/p][p]Mercedes said Russell would have dropped behind Hamilton, who finished fourth, had he also pitted during the VSC period. The team said the switch gave them the best possible ⁠chance of retaining second ⁠place on a day when ‌they lacked the pace to win.[/p]