George Russell finished the Formula 1 Italian GP on the second step of the podium, but Juan Pablo Montoya insists that Mercedes should have double-stacked its drivers to give the Briton a better chance of victory.
The Italian GP weekend was interesting for George Russell. At the start of the weekend, it looked bright for the Mercedes driver. He appeared to have the upper hand, as teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was forced to take an engine penalty, which left the Italian to line up P19 on the grid.
After qualifying on the front row, behind surprise pole-sitter Pierre Gasly, Russell was set to have a strong chance at victory. However, the battle with his Mercedes teammate, the fight to defend his position, and the need to find the right strategy made the race anything but straightforward for the Briton.
Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya expressed on the F1 TV post-race show that he believes the Mercedes team made a mistake by not double-stacking their drivers during the Virtual Safety Car.
“He was leading and he should have had the priority on the pitstop,” he said. “When that Virtual Safety Car came at that point, it’s quicker to stop than staying out.
“They should have stopped him, they should have double-stacked him, and he should have stopped ahead of Antonelli.
“And I’m not saying Antonelli wouldn’t still catch him and win the race, but it would have been a really close fight like we saw earlier on.
“It would have been a really cool race at the end for all of us.”
One-stop the only option for Russell at Italian GP
Moreover, the strategies differed: Russell used the one-stop strategy, while Antonelli opted for the two-stop strategy. At the time, Mercedes did not know which move would be best. Given that Antonelli began in P19 while Russell started on the front row, Antonelli’s victory was not exactly predictable for the team.
Team Principal Toto Wolff spoke about the choice of opting for different strategies to Sky Sports F1.
“The two-stop was the best but we didn’t think it was the case, so that was good for him actually,” Wolff said of Antonelli’s strategy.
“But today there was nothing that would have stopped him [Antonelli]. George [Russell] fought with worn-out tools at the end, so I’m really happy for the one-two.”
Mercedes had to deal with several battles between the two drivers. Eventually, they were told to ‘keep it clean’ and essentially not risk anything by fighting each other. Antonelli stormed ahead, fueled by being on home soil. The 20-year-old roared to a historic victory, becoming the first Italian to win his home race in 60 years.
“No, George was on the hard and we needed to go on the one-stop so there was no chance.” Wolff added when asked whether Russell had other viable options.
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