Angry George Russell vents over radio as Mercedes completely mess up Dutch GP

George Russell squandered a third-placed start at the Dutch Grand Prix and slipped down to 17th due to a couple of disastrous strategy calls early in the race. The Brit stayed out on soft tyres during the opening laps despite the majority of the field pitting to intermediates when rain started to fall.

Russell temporarily led the race but soon started to drop back with those on intermediates tyres putting lap times on the board that were up to seven seconds quicker. The Silver Arrows hoped that the rain would soon clear and everyone else would have to pit again for softs, which would allow Russell to stay out and regain his position at the front.

But that did not happen Russell was pulled in for intermediates while low down the pecking order. When the track cleared up the entire field took a second early pit stop to pop the softs back on.

Russell did likewise and returned to the race in 17th position, venting his frustration over the team radio. He said: “I was forecast for a podium? F**k, how did we mess this up?”

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Lewis Hamilton took the gamble to start the race on medium tyres and he looked to fight his place from P13. But the seven-time world champion was unable to capitalise on the chaos caused by the rain.

Ahead of the race, Russell was hopeful that he could challenge Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who both started on the front row. “I think on pure pace, there’s no reason why Red Bull shouldn’t win every race. I said this in Bahrain already, but in the past, it’s not always the fastest car that wins the race,” he said.

“You need to get the strategy right. You need reliability in the car. The driver can’t make any mistakes. There’s no guarantee that they will still win every race. I think we will be in a good place and we’ll probably have a faster car here [at Zandvoort] than we had at Spa.

“Some of the circuits will probably suit us more in the second half of the season than the recent races but not enough to put us into fight with Red Bull for sure. But you know, the goal now is to prepare for next season and seal P2 in the teams’ Championship.”