Andrea Kimi Antonelli has called for a review into Mercedes team orders that he believes cost the team a better result at the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.
George Russell was running fifth behind his team-mate at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez amid increasing pressure from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri behind.
Russell believed that he was able to catch Haas’ Oliver Bearman, and when the Mercedes pit wall asked him to cool his brakes and tyres, the request was met with fury.
Eventually, the team complied with his request and ordered Antonelli to stand aside, giving him the opportunity to make a play for his young compatriot.
After the race, Antonelli revealed that he was unaware of Russell’s requests, and whilst happy to give away, affirmed a wish to have a discussion with the team.
“Well, I didn’t know he was asking that on the radio,” the Italian told media including Motorsport Week.
“I just got the information from the team to make the swap into T4, which kind of caught me by surprise initially. But, yeah, I mean, I respect their decision.
“Obviously we need to review and I would like to understand the reason behind the decision in order to move forward and then, yeah, now we’ll focus on to Brazil.”
Antonelli explains ‘nervous’ swap with Russell with Piastri bearing down
Antonelli explained how dropping behind Russell left him in the clutches of Piastri, particularly as the three were bunched up when he allowed Russell through at Turn 4.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, I had to drop back. And, I was very close to George when I was behind him,” he recalled.
“But then I couldn’t really…I had to start pushing more. And Piastri had a bit more pace, so I had to start defending from him, which was not ideal, you know.
“And then it kind of put us in a more unfavourable position. But that’s why I was a bit worried because also making this swap was quite difficult, because Piastri was very close to George.
“So I was a bit nervous about that, but, yeah, it’s what it is and we’ll focus on the next one.”
Russell, in the midst of his frustration, promised to let Antonelli back through if he failed to overtake Bearman. He did not, and duly kept his promise, something that Antonelli was grateful for.
“I really appreciate that from the team because at least I got the position back,” he said.
“Of course, you know, we need to review because I think if we would have held position, obviously, it’s very easy to talk now, but if we would have held position, probably we would have had a better chance to undercut Ollie [Bearman] and probably would have had a better shot to finish maybe P4 and P5.
“But obviously, as I said before, it’s easy to talk now and we just need to review in order to not make the same mistake.”
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