Andrea Kimi Antonelli explains his side in clash with Charles Leclerc in F1 Dutch GP as does George Russell, while Toto Wolff talks of youngster’s mindset.
While it was disaster for Ferrari pair in F1 Dutch GP at Zandvoort, it was nearly same for Mercedes duo as well. Russell lost out to Leclerc initially and was under pressure from Lewis Hamilton in the first stint. The Brit’s incident allowed some breathing space and strategy helped him to clear Leclerc as well.
But the Monegasque hustled to get through at Turn 12, which resulted in damage for Russell. The incident was eventually deemed as a racing incident. Before the decision, the Brit felt it was not the corner to overtake, especially on the outside which puts the other car on the gravel.
The subsequent damage forced Mercedes to use team orders to get Antonelli ahead. The Italian made quiet progress since the start of the race to get on the tail of Russell. He started catching Leclerc and forced Ferrari to a pit stop and nearly got the Monegasque on his outlap.
But it was a bit over optimistic at Turn 3 where he used the low line and lost control to ram on the side of Leclerc. He was handed a 10s time penalty and had to limp home with damage. He had further 5s added for pitlane speeding. He looked likely to finish in the points until the late safety car.
It dropped him outside the Top 10, as Russell hung on against Alexander Albon to an eventual fourth. The Brit admitted that he didn’t deserve that considering the bad run he had. Antonelli, meanwhile, explained his side, while noting that he will not make such moves the next time until he is 100%.
He said he tried to pull out but didn’t have time. Team boss Wolff backed him and reckoned such mistakes are bound to happen, even though it shouldn’t. He says it part of learning. Antonelli apologised after visiting Ferrari motorhome where he met Frederic Vasseur, as Leclerc laid full blame on him.
Additionally, Wolff confirmed Russell and Antonelli to stay on at Mercedes for the 2026 F1 season. He noted that there won’t be a big announcement per se, but a nudge from the team to confirm their stay. The talking point is not finances as such, but more on the marketing side.
What happened –
Antonelli: “I just saw it. It’s a shame because the pace was good, we were coming back in front. I knew that was probably the best chance I had to make the move because I was very close to him, he had a colder tyre. I just tried to move but it was a bit too much. When I saw he was coming back in front, I tried to let it go but it was not enough. I went for it because it’s so difficult to overtake. The more laps you do in dirty air, the more it hurts your tyre and your pace. I went for it and it was a bit too much. Now I’m just re-looking at it. I just tried at some point to let it go but it was not enough.
“Obviously I feel sorry to him. Next time, I’ll probably think twice before making the move – unless I’m 100% sure I’m going to stick it. Yeah, obviously, the wider line is the quicker one but to make the move, initially you can take the low line to cover less meters and obviously, I was probably not close enough. Probably if I was closer, I would have been able to make it but I was not close enough.”
Russell: “I don’t think I have ever seen somebody trying to overtake outside in that corner, because just the natural racing line, you go to gravel yourself. I didn’t push him into the gravel, I was just taking my line and he went fully off the track. It looks like a cool move but it ruined my race thereafter. He was off-track only by little bit but we had all that damage. How things panned out, we at least would have been in the fight for it [podium]. But obviously, that was depended on what happened with Charles, Lando, I am not going to stand here and say we could have, we didn’t deserve to be there.”
Wolff: “I think the FIA wanted to have more angles of the accident. From my biased perception, I thought it was pretty clear as a penalty. Now looking at it from a global perspective, after the race, considering that one of our cars took Charles out completely of the race, whatever the stewards decide, we’ll find out. Well, you know, I was thinking in the race, what would it have been if Kimi would have overtaken a Ferrari? And I think the people in Italy would have been happy.
“And the Italian fans want an Italian driver that is fighting, that pushes the car to the limit and sometimes over the limit. And that’s what happened today. The Italian fans don’t want to have a hesitating driver, someone that goes. Obviously, from the team’s perspective, we don’t want to take a Ferrari out, certainly no. And I’m sure that Kimi doesn’t want to take a Ferrari out particularly, but it is what it is. It’s hard racing. Unfortunately, and I’m sorry for Charles and Ferrari, but we want him to go for the moves and he should.”
Result –
Wolff: “Well, we’re in a difficult situation because how can you be happy with a P4 and maybe a P6 before the penalty? That’s really not great. I think this weekend between Max, the Ferraris and ourselves, it’s a little bit balanced at the moment. Max was the quickest, but Ferrari was just the same. I would say that’s not satisfying. You can see at the end the McLaren on the hard tyre versus all of us on the new soft. This is humiliation for everyone. Now you have the headline.”
Pitlane speeding –
Antonelli: “The speed limit is something I need to make sure doesn’t happen again. I’m not too sure when I did it, but I think it was probably the first pitstop. So I need to make sure that doesn’t happen. I think, also, the late safety car was unfortunate. Because I already had almost a 10-second gap from the guy behind. I think it would have been possible to finish P6 or P7.”
Damage –
Antonelli: “Yeah, I had a lot of damage. The whole right side of the floor was pretty damaged. I lost wing over the tyre, immediately the front right side was under the tarmac for the whole lap. I had a lot of vibrations also, the steering wheel was not straight. Definitely there was lot of damage but we still tried to hold on as much as we could.”
Russell: “Terrible. We had a lot of damage after the contact with Charles. As soon as we had the contact, it was game over, I was probably losing a second lap due to damage. To come home with fourth is substantially better than what was deserved but given the race prior contact with Charles, it was just…we didn’t have the pace. There was poor driving from my side as well, things didn’t work all around, so P4 was substantially better than what we deserved.”
Mindset –
Wolff: “At the beginning of the year, when we made it clear last year in the Monza that we would give him the opportunity, he was also saying that we would give him a year of learning. And then there would be moments where we’d tear our hair out and there would be other moments of brilliance. And I think this weekend pretty much sums that up. The mistake in FP1, clearly something that puts you on the back foot for the weekend. And then in the race, these moments of great driving. He was in free air, he was behind the McLaren, the quickest car, caught up and then again was involved in that accident that unfortunately meant the end for Charles’ race and also for Kimi’s race. But we want him to go for the moves, obviously. So up and downs, and that was absolutely expected from this season. And every one of those days is going to be alarming for next year.
“We’re not fighting for a constructor championship. Of course, it’s P2 and P3 that is at stake, but this has less relevance than next year when it’s important to score the points. I think what plays a part, it’s not only the rookie season. What we forget is the decision we took was to put an 18-year-old in the car that had barely two and a half years of single-seater racing in him. And when you see he’s still a boy that we’ve thrown into this environment, and I’ve seen him now, and you just want to hug him and cuddle him because he has that talent, that raw speed that is in him, and he copes well. But that’s also because he’s so young, I guess. He doesn’t see it as a big catastrophe impeaching the car in FP1 in minute five.
“So positives and negatives, but we were conscious, rookie and 18-year-old, when we put him in the car and that combo, he certainly gives it some harsh moments. Well, you always wish that the learning has less humps and bumps. Humps and bumps, both. Than he has today, because the swings are enormous. But it’s there. It just needs to be unpeeled with like an artichoke, where at the end there is the gold. Well, my analogies are not great, but you know what I mean. It’s there, and we have no doubt. And in a way, why we’re taking it with a certain easiness is that we’re not fighting for a world championship, we’re fighting for P2 and P3, and we owe it to give it the best shot for ourselves. But I can cope with it easier than if it was for a championship.”
2026 line-up –
Wolff: “I always say there’s not going to be any big news because we’re doing this. We’re continuing with both of them, of course. With George, there’s a few things where we want to optimise. Some of the travelling and the marketing days, how many hours we’re putting in. He’s an experienced driver and for us, it’s always important to talk about it. We want to have the best performance of the drivers and I think we’ve given both of them quite a strain with marketing activities and media activities. This is how we’re recalibrating. Is there going to be an announcement in months? No, but I don’t think it’s going to be even a big announcement. It’s just going to give you the heads up and say we’ve put a signature into the agreement.”
Here’s fight between Charles Leclerc and George Russell: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-dutch-grand-prix-leclerc-muscles-his-way-past-russell-with-gritty-move-for-p5.1841981152863610625
Here’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashing into Charles Leclerc: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-dutch-grand-prix-leclerc-crashes-out-after-antonelli-spins-the-ferrari-into-the-wall.1841986441442161254
Here’s what Charles Leclerc, Frederic Vasseur said
Here’s how F1 Dutch GP panned out
