George Russell voices Mercedes surprise over decisive Kimi Antonelli pit stop call

George Russell has admitted surprise over Mercedes' decision to pit Kimi Antonelli during the virtual safety car period at Monza.

Russell held the lead of the race early on as he sought to close the gap in the standings to team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who started from 19th place.

However, Russell was soon under pressure from Antonelli who made up substantial ground early on, making use of the red flag interruption following a huge crash for Charles Leclerc.

Antonelli's chances of victory received a boost when the Italian was pitted for fresh tyres under a virtual safety car, while Russell stayed out on the hard compound that was fitted during the red flag stoppage.

Addressing the differing strategy, Russell said: “To be honest, I thought we were both going to stay out. 

“I was surprised to see him pitting. In 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.”

Despite missing out on the victory, Russell has secured a silver lining from the challenging outcome.

“I’ll take it,” he said. “It’s been more positive than it was pre-summer break, and that’s what I needed to try to achieve, but of course I would have loved to have been P1 today.

“To be honest, I thought we were both going to stay out. I was surprised to see him pitting. In 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.”