George Russell outlines “tough” battle to keep Lewis Hamilton off the Dutch GP podium

Agosto 27, 2026 lojamais44@gmail.com

George Russell detailed the defensive tactics that he had to deploy as he faced a late challenge from Lewis Hamilton for the podium in Formula 1’s Dutch Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver qualified second for the Zandvoort race, but was passed on the opening lap by team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Russell made it ahead of the young Italian after the stops, but as the championship leader was on an alternate strategy with a tyre offset, the Briton was asked to move over in the latter stages of the race to allow Antonelli to retake second place.

As a result, Russell was left with a charging Hamilton, who was leading both Ferrari’s in a charge through the pack late in the race, on his tail.

“It was tough,” Russell said after the race when asked how he kept the seven-time champion at bay.

“I think Kimi’s and my race was kind of the opposite. I had a tough medium stint, he had a very strong medium stint, then I had a strong hard stint, he was struggling. But that VSC gave Lewis the free pitstop, and obviously Kimi pitted as well.

“From there on in, I knew I was going to be under threat, but I was managing enough in the high-speed corners to allow me to be fast in sector three and defending into Turn 1. So, I was pleased with that performance.”

George Russell finished third behind Kimi Antonelli

Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images

Russell admitted that after McLaren won in Hungary and again in Zandvoort after the summer break, the result capped off a “challenging couple of weekends” for the team. Mercedes still leads both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, but with McLaren steadily improving with successive upgrades and Ferrari set to bring a new engine to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the Silver Arrows can’t rest on their laurels just yet.

“I think these coming two or three race weekends will be a challenge for us both [Antonelli and him], purely because we’re out of sync with the upgrades,” Russell added.

“I think we will be slightly more competitive [at Monza]. However, I believe Ferrari have an engine upgrade incoming, and the truth is we just don’t know. But I do believe that these high-degradation circuits [like Zandvoort] really suit McLaren very well, and especially Lando. He’s always been a bit of a specialist in those conditions. We also saw it last year. Monza may be slightly different, but I think they are the team to beat right now.”

Russell currently sits second in the drivers’ standings and is tied with Hamilton on 183 points. The pair are just 59 points adrift of championship leader Antonelli.