{"id":1268,"date":"2026-08-26T17:57:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=1268"},"modified":"2026-08-26T17:57:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:57:37","slug":"george-russell-celebrates-pace-very-similar-andrea-kimi-antonelli-at-dutch-gp-a-step-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/george-russell-celebrates-pace-very-similar-andrea-kimi-antonelli-at-dutch-gp-a-step-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell celebrates pace \u201cvery similar\u201d to Antonelli at Dutch GP: \u201cA step forward\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Pace recovery:<\/strong> <strong>George Russell welcomed matching Andrea Kimi Antonelli&#8217;s pace<\/strong> at Zandvoort, calling it a personal step forward after recent struggles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sprint win &amp; team orders:<\/strong> Although Russell cut the deficit by winning the Sprint, <strong>letting Antonelli past under team orders<\/strong> in Sunday&#8217;s Grand Prix reset the gap back to 59 points.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Upcoming challenges:<\/strong> <strong>Russell expects a tough stretch ahead<\/strong> as Mercedes balances mismatched update schedules relative to rivals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although he was unable to reduce <strong>Andrea Kimi Antonelli\u2019s<\/strong> lead in the <strong>2026 Formula 1 World Championship<\/strong>, <strong>George Russell<\/strong> viewed the <strong>Dutch Grand Prix<\/strong> weekend as &#8220;very positive.&#8221; Speaking in a press conference attended by <em>GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/em>, the British driver highlighted that he matched his Mercedes teammate\u2019s pace\u2014something he had struggled to do in recent rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arriving at Zandvoort trailing the Italian rookie by 59 points in the Drivers&#8217; Championship, Russell initially trimmed the margin by three points after winning Saturday&#8217;s Sprint race. However, after being instructed by Mercedes to let Antonelli past on Sunday to help defend against charging Ferraris, Russell finished third behind Antonelli&#8217;s second-place result, leaving the championship deficit unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2291700282.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1020312786\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.500952771833133;width:896px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2291700282.png 800w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2291700282-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2291700282-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2291700282-150x100.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">George Russell felt encouraged by matching Antonelli&#8217;s pace at Zandvoort (Photo: F1)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;To be honest, I&#8217;m feeling good. Overall, it was a very positive weekend. I hadn&#8217;t been on the podium for three races or so. Considering we aren&#8217;t as dominant as we once were, I think it was a very solid weekend,&#8221; Russell said. &#8220;There were times when I wasn&#8217;t on the podium while Kimi was fighting up front with the best car. Now, <strong>the pace between the two of us was very similar, and that is a good step forward for me.<\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It was a cleaner weekend. I&#8217;m not dealing with as many issues as I faced at the end of the first half of the season, and that is allowing me to focus on the job,&#8221; Russell explained. He also cautioned that development delays could impact performance in the coming rounds: &#8220;<strong>I think the next two or three weekends will be challenging for both of us<\/strong>, simply because we are out of sync regarding updates compared to our rivals.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russell&#8217;s debrief comes as <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/why-andrea-kimi-antonelli-new-engine-in-italy-could-be-mercedes-ace-in-the-hole-for-f1-2026\/\">Mercedes justified the team orders at Zandvoort to save race time for Russell<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/lewis-hamilton-takes-responsibility-for-heated-zandvoort-radio-messages-not-the-best-version-of-me\/\">Lewis Hamilton accepted responsibility for his heated radio messages<\/a>. Meanwhile, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/ferrari-prepares-tribute-to-schumacher-with-special-sf-26-livery-at-italian-gp\/\">Ferrari faces dyno delays on its updated engine ahead of Monza<\/a>, while <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/williams-selects-browning-for-fp1-at-italian-gp-and-benches-albon\/&amp;authuser=3\">Luke Browning prepares to replace Alexander Albon in FP1 for Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 returns from September 4\u20136 at Monza for the <strong>Italian Grand Prix<\/strong>, the 13th round of the 2026 season. <strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/\">GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong> provides complete live coverage of all track action. Follow all updates on our <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/news\/\">news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">World Championship Standings (Top 5 after Dutch GP)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><td><strong>Pos<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Driver<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Team<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Engine<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Points<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>1<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Andrea Kimi Antonelli<\/strong><\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>242<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>2<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>George Russell<\/strong><\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>183<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>3<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Lewis Hamilton<\/strong><\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td><strong>183<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>4<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Lando Norris<\/strong><\/td><td>McLaren<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>159<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>5<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Charles Leclerc<\/strong><\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td><strong>155<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions (FAQ)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. What is the points gap between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli after the Dutch GP?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">George Russell trails Kimi Antonelli by 59 points in the Drivers&#8217; Championship, the same margin as before the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. Why did Russell swap positions with Antonelli during the Dutch GP?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mercedes ordered the swap on lap 66 to let the faster Antonelli chase leader Lando Norris without losing race time fighting Russell, which protected Russell from being caught by Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. When is the next race on the 2026 F1 calendar?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 resumes from <strong>September 4\u20136, 2026<\/strong>, for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite leaving Zandvoort with the same points deficit to Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the championship, George Russell felt encouraged by matching his Mercedes teammate&#8217;s race pace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020312803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Russell felt encouraged by matching Antonelli's pace at Zandvoort","42wp_featured_image_credits":"F1","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[17,16],"42wp_author":[58],"class_list":["post-1268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-george-russell","tag-mercedes","42wp_author-vicente-soella"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1269,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions\/1269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020312803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1268"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=1268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}