Juan Pablo Montoya believes Mercedes faced an almost impossible team orders decision during Kimi Antonelli’s remarkable victory at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix. While the Colombian feels keeping Antonelli behind George Russell would theoretically have been the correct way to protect the race leader, he says asking the Italian to surrender a potential Monza victory in front of his home crowd was never realistically going to happen.
Antonelli ultimately won from 19th on the grid after Mercedes pitted him for fresh tyres during the Virtual Safety Car, while George Russell remained on worn hard tyres and was later overtaken by his team-mate. The result increased Antonelli’s championship advantage over Russell to 66 points.
Montoya understands Mercedes going all-in on Kimi Antonelli
“The right thing to do was to tell Antonelli to stay second, but if you tell Kimi to stay second in Italy, you don’t come out of that paddock,” Juan Pablo Montoya said, summing up Mercedes’ strategic management of its two drivers during the Italian Grand Prix.
Speaking to BetBrothers, the former Formula 1 race winner argued that Antonelli’s extraordinary recovery left Mercedes with little realistic scope to prevent him from fighting for victory.
“Kimi Antonelli is doing such an extraordinary job that he is putting Mercedes in a really difficult situation,” Montoya added. “How do you tell Kimi, who has come all the way through the field after starting 19th, that he isn’t allowed to win the race? You can’t. Toto Wolff knew perfectly well that the entire circuit was supporting Antonelli.”
The victory further strengthened Antonelli’s position at the top of the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, while George Russell left Monza facing a much larger deficit to his Mercedes team-mate.
Juan Pablo Montoya questions George Russell’s VSC strategy
Montoya nevertheless believes there is an important question surrounding Mercedes’ decision-making during the Virtual Safety Car period. While Antonelli was called into the pits for fresh tyres, Russell stayed on track with an ageing set of hard tyres despite leading the race.
“Why didn’t George stop? That’s a question for me. If you knew stopping was going to be faster, why wasn’t George given another pit stop? I don’t know why the driver who was leading the race wasn’t given priority.”
The decision proved decisive. Antonelli emerged with the tyre advantage required to recover the gap in the closing stages before overtaking Russell and completing his extraordinary charge from the back of the grid.
The situation also highlighted the increasingly complicated competitive dynamic inside Mercedes. Earlier in the season, strategic calls involving the two drivers had already attracted attention, including the team’s approach during the Dutch Grand Prix, as Antonelli and Russell continued to fight for championship position.
George Russell now 66 points behind Antonelli
Following Monza, George Russell is 66 points behind his team-mate in the championship. His task could become even more difficult later in the season, with Russell also expected to serve a grid penalty when Mercedes introduces another power unit into his allocation.
The Italian Grand Prix therefore represented another major swing in Antonelli’s favour. Mercedes may have faced a difficult strategic decision during the VSC, but the combination of fresh tyres, Antonelli’s pace and his remarkable recovery ultimately gave the Italian the opportunity to fight for the victory in front of his home crowd.
Montoya’s view is that Mercedes could hardly have intervened once Antonelli was in that position. From a championship-management perspective, protecting Russell may have been the cleaner option. In the reality of Monza, with Antonelli charging from 19th and the grandstands behind him, asking the Italian to remain second would have been an altogether different proposition.
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