George Russell believes Mercedes will continue to face growing pressure from McLaren and Ferrari until further upgrades arrive for the W17. The British driver returned to the podium at the Dutch Grand Prix after a difficult run of results, but Zandvoort also highlighted how closely matched Formula 1’s leading teams have become.
After retiring at Spa and finishing seventh in Budapest, George Russell rediscovered the podium during the Zandvoort weekend. Following victory in the Sprint, the Mercedes driver took third place in the Dutch Grand Prix, although the result brought mixed feelings. He showed less competitive pace than Kimi Antonelli and, late in the race, also had to accept a team order in favour of his team-mate.
Despite that, George Russell found several positives in Mercedes’ weekend on the North Sea coast and acknowledged that the decision made by the pit wall in the closing laps was the correct one.
George Russell accepts Mercedes team order for Kimi Antonelli
The decisive moment within Mercedes came on lap 66, when the pit wall instructed its two drivers to swap positions. Although George Russell initially expressed some uncertainty over the radio, the decision to allow Kimi Antonelli through reflected the order that had existed before the Virtual Safety Car and Mercedes’ desire to protect the team’s overall result.
“We’ve always said as a team that when we’re on different strategies, we’ll never fight and we’ll always make the swap. Those have always been our rules,” George Russell explained. “The fact is that Kimi was ahead of me before the VSC and he tried something different to protect us as a team, sort of copying what the Ferraris did. Could I have kept him behind? Maybe. But equally I could have ended up finishing fifth. So, in the end, he deserved to be second. I think third place was a fair result for me.”
The internal Mercedes battle was much closer at Zandvoort than it had been during some of the final races before the break. That development is particularly significant given the wider discussion around the performance gap between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli and its potential impact on Mercedes’ season.
George Russell was therefore able to view his Dutch Grand Prix result positively.
“I feel good, to be honest. It was a very positive weekend overall. I hadn’t been on the podium for about three races and, considering we’re nowhere near as dominant as we once were, I think it was a very solid weekend. In the past there were times when I wasn’t on the podium despite having the best car and Kimi was right up there. Now the pace between the two of us seems very similar and that’s a good step forward for me. It was a cleaner weekend, I’m not dealing with the problems I had at the end of the first half of the season and that allows me to focus on the job.”
George Russell holds off Lewis Hamilton in tense Dutch GP finish
The closing stages also forced George Russell into a difficult defence against Lewis Hamilton, who had significantly fresher tyres. Managing his advantage through the more technical sections of the circuit proved crucial in protecting the final podium position, particularly when it came to defending into the heavy braking zone for Turn 1.
The Virtual Safety Cars played an important role in the battle between the former Mercedes team-mates. The first, following Esteban Ocon’s stoppage, worked against George Russell. The second, caused by debris shed onto the circuit by Alex Albon’s Williams, helped the Mercedes driver just as Lewis Hamilton was preparing his most dangerous attack.
“It was tough. The first VSC came at quite an awkward time for me because I was feeling really strong on the hard tyres,” George Russell said in the press conference. “I think Kimi’s race and mine were almost the opposite: I had a difficult stint on the mediums and he had a very strong one, then I was strong on the hards and he was struggling.”
“But that VSC gave Lewis a free pit stop and obviously Kimi stopped as well. From that point onwards I knew I was going to be under threat, but I was managing enough through the high-speed corners to be quick in sector three and defend at the first braking zone. I’m happy with that performance, but it’s been a couple of demanding weekends for us as a team.”
For Kimi Antonelli, the Zandvoort performance also came amid an important phase of his season in which the young Mercedes driver is facing challenges extending beyond outright speed as he continues his development at the front of the Formula 1 grid.
George Russell expects McLaren and Ferrari pressure to continue
Zandvoort demonstrated just how closely matched the leading teams have become. McLaren confirmed its step forward, while Ferrari also displayed highly competitive race pace. Mercedes, meanwhile, knows that further development will be required if it wants to respond consistently.
“When you’re ahead, everything is always easier and it’s very difficult for the car behind to overtake unless you’re on an offset strategy,” George Russell observed. “But it’s not a big surprise for us to see how competitive Norris was this weekend, considering he won in Budapest. It’s a very similar circuit with long corners, high tyre degradation and a two-stop strategy.”
McLaren had also continued developing its 2026 challenger before Zandvoort, including rear-end upgrades for the MCL40 at the Dutch Grand Prix.
George Russell believes the current competitive picture could remain in place for several more rounds.
“I think this trend can continue for the next two or three races, until we start bringing more new parts to the car.”
That puts additional emphasis on Mercedes’ own development programme. Toto Wolff has already acknowledged that Mercedes is behind with some W17 upgrades while still seeing untapped potential in the car.
Mercedes turns attention to Monza as Ferrari prepares upgrade
The calendar now moves to a completely different type of circuit for the Italian Grand Prix. Mercedes could be more comfortable at Monza, where the characteristics of its power unit may also work in its favour, but George Russell stressed that significant unknowns remain.
“I think we’ll be slightly more competitive there. However, I believe Ferrari has an engine upgrade coming and the truth is that we don’t know,” George Russell said. “I think these high-degradation circuits really suit McLaren very well and especially Lando, who has always been a specialist in those conditions. We saw that last year as well.”
Ferrari is indeed preparing another technical step for its home race, with a power unit upgrade planned for Monza as part of its continued 2026 development programme.
“Monza could be slightly different, but I think they’re the team to beat right now,” George Russell concluded.
With McLaren showing increasing strength, Ferrari maintaining competitive race pace and Mercedes waiting for further developments, the next phase of the season could remain closely fought. The Italian Grand Prix will provide a very different technical test, but George Russell’s assessment is clear: until Mercedes brings more performance to the W17, the pressure from its closest rivals is unlikely to disappear.
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