The Virtual Safety Car flashed on lap 29, and by the time it went green Russell had lost his Italian Grand Prix. He was still leading at that point, still comfortable on a set of hard tyres Mercedes thought could go the distance. Behind him, Antonelli dived into the pits, took on fresh mediums and set off on the chase.
Russell finished second, less than four seconds behind. It was a Mercedes 1-2 and a Monza fairytale for Antonelli, the first Italian to win the race since 1966. It also left the man in the sister car with a very particular kind of frustration.
“The team obviously didn’t want Kimi and I battling,” Russell told reporters.
“And that’s, I guess, why I was a little bit annoyed with the timing of that VSC.”
Read also: Zverev is the only top-20 seed left in his half of the US Open draw
His argument was straightforward: he was on the harder compound, Antonelli was on the medium, and if either car was going to profit from a free stop, it was always going to be the one on the softer rubber.
“Because, like Max said, I think it would have been tough for those guys in the medium to have competed with anybody on the hard tyre.”
Russell had wanted to hold his line and let the race play out.
“I would have loved to have continued on the same strategy,” he told Motorsport.com. “Because I felt in a good position in that battle.”
Read also: Grosso out after three defeats, Vanoli set for Fiorentina return
Mercedes hedged their bets
Team principal Toto Wolff’s version was that the pit wall did not know which call was better and chose to split the difference. The computer said the one-stop was ahead; the hard tyre could, in theory, go the distance.
“We didn’t know what was the better strategy. At that stage, the system said that the one-stop comes out ahead,” Wolff said.
“The hard tyre is going to go forever. You can start on it and finish on it and you can see with George it was a forever tyre but it didn’t have the performance that of the medium.”
That was the theory. In practice, Antonelli hunted Russell down through traffic and closed the gap lap by lap. The pass, when it came, was late in the race, on a hard tyre that had done too many laps and a driver on fresh rubber who was not going to sit behind.
Read also: Verstappen credits Red Bull for turning around a broken Monza weekend
Antonelli’s answer on the radio
The pit wall had, at one point, asked Antonelli to think about track position rather than the win. His reply, captured by Formula 1, was blunt.
“Yeah right, and in the meantime, he passed me. Do you want me just to sit behind, or what?”
Russell had a word for his team-mate as well.
“But, you know, it takes nothing away from Kimi’s drive altogether.”
Antonelli started 19th after taking an engine penalty. His comeback and Mercedes’ decision to split strategies moved a bigger number than any single race: he now leads Russell by 66 points in the drivers’ standings.
Read also: Littler beats Humphries and issues ominous warning: 'Me and Luke are back – fans are in for it'
