George Russell expressed some criticism regarding the overtake he received from Charles Leclerc at Turn 10 during the Dutch Grand Prix, giving his perspective as a Mercedes driver.
One of the most sensational overtakes in the 72 laps of the Dutch GP was Charles Leclerc’s move on George Russell. Approaching Turn 10, the right-left chicane, the Ferrari driver, even from a distance, took the entire outside line, braking late, and committed to the inside of the Mercedes. Given the limited space, the two cars made contact, and some pieces flew off Russell’s car.
It was undoubtedly the duel of the day. Earlier in the race, on the first lap, Charles Leclerc had overtaken George Russell on the outside at Turn 3 but then lost the position again due to the deployment of the Safety Car, which was used to recover Lewis Hamilton’s car. Ending up in sixth place, the Monegasque driver was more determined than ever and wasted no time in trying to regain his position.
However, after the overtake, there was significant criticism and doubt about the move. An investigation was immediately opened regarding the incident, which, as of 17:30, has not yet produced any outcome. While Charles Leclerc defended it as a simple racing incident, Russell explained his point of view, acknowledging that the move was not particularly severe but still caused him problems.
“I need to watch it again, I haven’t seen it properly yet,” he told Sky Sport F1. “I’ve never seen anyone overtake in that corner because the inside line could send you into the gravel during the change of direction. I didn’t push him; he went off on his own. It also seems like a beautiful overtake, but it caused me quite a bit of damage. I don’t know if they will give him a penalty: it wasn’t aggressive, he just overtook off-track. In qualifying, as soon as you put your wheels beyond the white line, your time is taken away, so they should do something here too. I just stuck to my line.”
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