Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has defended the team's decision to invert their cars in the closing stages of the Dutch Grand Prix, calling it "the logical consequence" of their established policy — even as George Russell admitted he briefly questioned the call.

With Kimi Antonelli running second behind Lando Norris, a late Virtual Safety Car allowed Antonelli to pit for fresh soft tyres, dropping him behind Russell. On Lap 65, Mercedes ordered Russell to let his teammate through. The Briton initially responded with frustration, warning the team they might have "lost a double podium" as the Ferraris closed in rapidly. Russell ultimately complied and brilliantly held off Lewis Hamilton to secure third.

"I think this is the policy that we always have," Wolff explained. "We're not losing time with each other and having Ferraris breathing down our neck. Especially before the inverting, Kimi was ahead — he didn't need to pit, so George ended where he ended, with the threat of the Ferraris obviously. So the switch was the logical consequence."

Russell accepts the call

Despite his initial reluctance, Russell accepted the decision afterwards. "Kimi was ahead of me anyway so he deserved to finish ahead," he said. "Of course when you're in the race, you want to fight for every single position. With the pace with the new tyre, he would've overtaken me anyway so it was the right decision."

Russell admitted his race was far from perfect — he lost a position at the start, was caught napping by Oscar Piastri at the restart, and struggled for pace throughout. But he took satisfaction from his best weekend in some time: "I come away from this weekend as a whole satisfied — it's been my best weekend for quite a while. P3 was a fair result."

Budget concerns and a stalled development race

The bigger picture for Mercedes is more concerning. Wolff revealed after the race that the team "haven't got the money to put developments on the car," with their next major upgrade package not expected until the rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia in early October. Their points haul has declined steadily — from 135 in the first three rounds to just 89 and 92 in the most recent two triple-headers — while McLaren and Ferrari have caught up.

Sky Sports F1 pundit Bernie Collins analysed the situation on The F1 Show podcast: "Mercedes have front-loaded it and that shows a confidence in their power unit and their overall chassis design. But then you're not gathering the data and learning about the development for the next six months when other people are. They've put their decision-making one way, and it will be interesting to see if they can hold on."

Antonelli acknowledged the challenge ahead: "Of course now as a team we need to find a little bit of time because McLaren have done a huge step. We've got to keep pushing."