Russell reacts after losing out to Antonelli in Italian Grand Prix as he admits being ‘surprised’ by split strategies

George Russell has given his take on an eventful Italian Grand Prix in which he lost out on victory in the latter stages to team mate Kimi Antonelli, with the Briton admitting that his team mate’s pit stop during the Virtual Safety Car phase “surprised” him.

Russell had looked in strong form throughout much of the race, having taken the lead early on from polesitter Pierre Gasly while Antonelli faced the challenge of working his way forwards from his P19 grid slot.

However, having rapidly making gains, the Italian was soon in the thick of the action at the front and engaged in a close battle with Russell for the lead.

When a Virtual Safety Car was called after Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin came to a halt, Mercedes pitted Antonelli for fresh tyres while Russell remained out on track. This initially dropped the championship leader backwards, but he again climbed up the order again and returned to second place.

Just a few laps from the end of the race, Antonelli finally found a way past Russell and held on to seal victory, with Russell having to settle for P2.

Despite his disappointment at missing out on the win, the British driver praised his team mate’s performance and admitted that it was a relief to claim a solid result after some ups and downs towards the end of the first half of the season.

“Huge congratulations to Kimi of course – an incredible result from him,” said Russell. “When I looked on the leaderboard at the beginning and I saw he was already in P5, P4, I knew straight away he was going to be in the mix. Huge congrats to him.

“It was looking like a pretty strong race from us and then I was just struggling with the tyres towards the end – obviously we did the whole race on that one hard tyre.

“I'll take it, it's been more positive than it was pre-summer break and that's what I needed to try and achieve. Of course I would have loved to be P1 today.”

Pushed on whether there had been any discussion about whether he would pit under the VSC, Russell responded: “To be honest I thought we were both going to stay out. I was surprised to see him pit.

“I think at the end it was a roll of the dice both ways. In the moment, the team wouldn't have known which strategy was better. It made sense to split the cars but, in the end, Kimi had great pace, and there we are.”

While the result means that Antonelli has extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 66 points, Russell has strengthened his hold on second place over Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.