Autobayng News Team
Mercedes said there was no need to impose team orders on their drivers in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as they did not significantly hold each other up.
The pair encountered each other on track after George Russell passed Yuki Tsunoda. Russell was frustrated to have fallen behind the Red Bull driver in the first place when his team mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli squeezed him at the exit of turn one on the restart.
Once Russell got back on Antonelli’s tail he suggested Mercedes let him past his team mate. He was running on the hard compound tyres while Antonelli was on mediums and was close to making his first pit stop. Russell spent five laps within DRS range of his team mate as Antonelli tried to attack Liam Lawson ahead of them.
Mercedes technical director James Allison explained why they didn’t consider it necessary. “We’re not shy about those swaps,” he said in a video issued by the team. “They can be done in a way that doesn’t disadvantage either driver when the drivers are clearly on different strategies.
“If you just allow the cars to quickly go by one another when one’s on new tyres and the other on older tyres, that can happen without any harm to either car’s outlook in the race. But in this particular instance, it really didn’t need to.
“We knew that Kimi ahead on the medium tyre was coming to the end of his stint, and with tyres that – because they were medium and not hard – were just degrading slightly. So his pace was starting to tail away.
“George behind was really picking up his pace and was coming up behind Kimi. We could see that they would eventually intercept. But we knew that by the time they did, Kimi would have gone in the pits naturally as part of his strategy.
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“So there was no need, in that particular instance, to consider swapping because the sort of natural flow of the pit stops was going to clear the road ahead of George in any case.”
Russell jumped past his team mate through the pit stops, and got ahead of Lawson and Carlos Sainz Jnr at the same time as he climbed from fifth place to second.
Russell’s radio communications behind Antonelli
| Lap: 10/51 RUS: 1’46.895 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Russell passes Tsunoda approaching turn three Good job mate. So, Kimi now 2.6 ahead. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| So just keep an eye on these rear surface temps now that you’re ahead, doing a good job so far. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 11/51 RUS: 1’46.277 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Diff mid four available. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 12/51 RUS: 1’46.108 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So good job on those fronts, looking much better balance now. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | And still target plus three. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 14/51 RUS: 1’46.336 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Happy to ignore that oxidation warning. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Approaching turn 15 Gap ahead 0.8. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Turn 16 exit Gap 0.9. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 15/51 RUS: 1’46.156 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Approaching turn 15 Gap one second. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Exit turn 16 Gap 1.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 16/51 RUS: 1’46.631 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | I think I’ve got a tyre advantage to get past Lawson, but obviously the DR… [message cuts] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Copy that, George. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Albon has just pitted, it won’t be too much longer now, George. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Approaching turn 15 Gap 0.9. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Turn 16 exit Gap 0.9. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 17/51 RUS: 1’46.351 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Approaching turn 15 Gap 0.9. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | One second. Double yellow turn five, six. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 18/51 RUS: 1’46.439 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Clear five, six. Keep eyes out for debris, five, six. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Approaching turn 15 Gap 0.9. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Turn 16 exit Gap 0.9. Antonelli pits | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Lawson pits So, as you can see, medium runners now pitting onto the hard. Lawson, Leclerc was previous lap. Sainz ahead last lap was 45.8. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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- Verstappen has led more laps than Norris in 2025: Azerbaijan GP stats
- Why Mercedes saw no need to follow Russell’s request to let him past Antonelli
- Bortoleto reported Alonso’s jump start – but didn’t mention his manager’s name
- How Verstappen’s engineer had him laughing on his way to victory in Baku
