Wolff brands Leclerc's overtaking on Russell as "too risky" and Antonelli's move as "too optimistic"
On the back of an up-and-down race at Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix for Mercedes, Toto Wolff has branded Charles Leclerc's overtaking on George Russell as "too risky".
Starting from fifth on the grid, George Russell lost a place to Charles Leclerc at the start. The Briton then looked to struggle to follow the Monegasque as he started to fall back.
However, the safety car brought out for Lewis Hamilton's crash enabled Russell to leapfrog Leclerc as the Monegasque had completed his tyre change a lap earlier.
The pair then battled it out on the track, and Leclerc completed a sensational, but aggressive manoeuvre at the chicane. However, Leclerc and Russell made contact during the battle, and the Mercedes man picked up car damage which led to him letting his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli through.
Things got even more complicated when Antonelli pitted in the later stages of the race, and Ferrari brought Leclerc in to counter. The Monegasque rejoined the track ahead of the Italian, but the Mercedes driver got it wrong and tagged the side of Leclerc when he tried to send it up the inside into Turn 3.
The incident forced Leclerc to retire from the action while Antonelli suffered a puncture and was handed a 10-second time penalty before also receiving a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. As for Russell, despite his damage he climbed to fourth when those two tangled.
Reflecting on Mercedes' race at Zandvoort, team boss Toto Wolff noted: "Today was a really challenging race for both our drivers with plenty of incidents on track. Ultimately, it is a shame for both as they could have been fighting for more than what they achieved today if things had played out differently.
"Since the beginning of the season, Kimi has made massive progress. We saw today once again how strong his pace was as he made his way through the field. He was sadly just slightly too optimistic with his move on Charles (Leclerc) and that cost both him and the Ferrari.
"That said, we want him to be aggressive and chase every opportunity he can on track. That’s what he did today and it’s a shame that it didn’t work out.
Wolff continued: "For George, he was the unlucky party in his own incident. It was a risky move by Charles, too risky in my opinion, and George suffered damage.
"This cost him the chance to fight for the podium and possibly a few more points in the championship. He did well to bring his car home in P4 though. We now look forward to Monza and hopefully can come away from there with a healthier haul of points."
