{"id":869226,"date":"2026-08-24T03:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T03:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/869226\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T03:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T03:10:12","slug":"george-russell-still-not-there-as-mercedes-pressure-builds-after-dutch-gp-says-former-f1-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/869226\/","title":{"rendered":"George Russell “still not there” as Mercedes pressure builds after Dutch GP, says former F1 driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Formula 1 driver and F1 TV analyst Jolyon Palmer<\/a> believes George Russell<\/a> is feeling the heat within Mercedes<\/a>, claiming that the Briton is “still not there” compared to team-mate Kimi Antonelli following the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Mercedes secured a double podium at Zandvoort, finishing second and third behind McLaren’s Lando Norris<\/a>. But the late team order instructing Russell to yield track position to Antonelli has become a popular talking point after the race.<\/p>\n

The Italian had been running ahead of Russell before Mercedes opted to bring him in for a pitstop. When Antonelli returned to the track on fresh\u00a0tyres, the pitwall ordered a position swap. At the time, Russell argued over team radio that the move risked losing a double podium for the team, but he later confirmed it was the right decision after the race.<\/p>\n

“I can see the logic of Mercedes. I think George will probably see it,” Palmer told F1 TV. “He’s going to be a bit annoyed. He’s had a tough day. The starts were obviously really, really difficult. Dropped behind Oscar at the second getaway, and that put the distance between him and the top two.<\/p>\n

\"George <\/p>\n

George Russell, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Alastair Staley \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“But he didn’t really have the pace today in the end. I’m happy he’s had a better weekend, but he’s still not there.<\/p>\n

“If we’re talking about drivers of the season, I mean, Kimi once again has just executed really well. Not quite a win today, but every weekend he’s also amazing. So, the pressure is on George. And I think when the dust settles, he’ll say, ‘Actually, I wasn’t quite there today for whatever reason, particularly the starts, and I still have a bit of work to do.'”<\/p>\n

Russell’s third-place finish means he now sits second in the drivers’ standings, ahead of Lewis Hamilton<\/a>, although they are level on points with 183 each. Antonelli continues to lead the championship and has a 59-point lead with 242 points.<\/p>\n

We want your opinion!<\/p>\n

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n

Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n

– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Formula 1 driver and F1 TV analyst Jolyon Palmer believes George Russell is feeling the heat within…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[3032,49,48,48037,578,576,577,3024,301837,1881,279807,82,4962,59857],"class_list":["post-869226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dutch-gp","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-george-russell","tag-george-russell-still-not-there-as-mercedes-pressure-builds-after-dutch-gp","tag-mercedes","tag-says-former-f1-driver","tag-sports","tag-trendingteam","tag-zandvoort"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}