Nico Rosberg criticizes Mercedes strategy: “They were too focused on protecting Russell”. Nico Rosberg has criticized Mercedes’ race strategy in Spain.

The 2016 world champion has no doubts

“If I had passed Russell immediately, it would have been a different race.” “We lost out twice, but it’s never easy to make strategic decisions when you have two drivers fighting for the championship.” These comments came respectively from Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Toto Wolff after the Spanish Grand Prix, and both referred to the same situation: Kimi Antonelli found himself tucked up behind George Russell with superior pace, yet remained stuck behind his teammate for a significant portion of the race.

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur stated that Lewis Hamilton would have won the race even without the Virtual Safety Car intervention. Nevertheless, it remains clear that Mercedes did not execute the race in the most efficient manner, choosing instead to protect George Russell, who started the season as the team’s designated leader but was comprehensively outperformed by Antonelli during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

Nico Rosberg did not hold back in his criticism of the Mercedes pit wall.

“Mercedes took George too much into consideration and protected him too much. As soon as a team risks losing the victory, everyone should be working together for the team’s success. Mercedes should have done that earlier,” Nico Rosberg said in comments reported by the German publication Motorsport Aktuell.

Nico Rosberg also highlighted Antonelli’s race pace advantage over his teammate.

“Antonelli was once again faster in the race. In qualifying, Russell can fight with the very best, but in races he is missing something,” Rosberg concluded.