Formula 1 has always had a complicated relationship with team orders. When two drivers are fighting for the championship, any decision made by the pit wall can be interpreted as a choice about who should have priority within the team. And the 2026 Dutch GP brought some examples of this.
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It’s a bit like what happens in The Godfather, a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The story of the Corleone family is, for the most part, a struggle for space and influence. Who is in charge, who has more power, and who is prepared to take that place when the situation changes. In Formula 1, the dynamic is not so different.
George Russell had reasons to be upset when he was ordered to let Kimi Antonelli pass. The two are fighting for the championship and Russell was in second place when the Italian, with fresher tires after a stop during the Virtual Safety Car, started to close in.
On the radio, Russell questioned whether Antonelli was really fighting for the win or just intended to catch Lando Norris, who already had more than 11 seconds advantage. Mercedes, nevertheless, told the Brit to make way.
Russell could have tried to hold Antonelli back and risk losing even more positions to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, who were also closing in. He preferred to follow the team’s guidance.
“He deserved to finish ahead,” said Russell.
The statement can be interpreted in various ways. Russell lost points to Antonelli at that moment, but also showed Mercedes that he is willing to respect a team decision even when it is not favorable to his own race.
The situation recalled the fateful 2025 Italian GP, when McLaren found itself in the same position with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. However, there is a very important difference: on that occasion, the team asked Piastri to give up the position to correct a mistake caused by McLaren itself. The decision directly impacted the championship and brought questions and criticism.
In Mercedes’ case, the position swap did not change the gap between Russell and Antonelli in the drivers’ championship. In a cold analysis, no one gained or lost from the move. And despite much criticism about the Brit’s passivity, the decision made even more sense after Toto Wolff, the team principal, announced that Kimi Antonelli will face a penalty for power unit component changes at the Italian GP in two weeks.
Meanwhile, Ferrari went through a similar situation but with a very different outcome.
Lewis Hamilton finished the Dutch GP frustrated with how the team managed his race. The Brit lost time behind Charles Leclerc during the second stint and, when he asked for his teammate to be called into the pits, the decision did not happen immediately.
Hamilton did not hide his irritation and returned to the subject after the race, even comparing the situation with what happened at Mercedes. While Russell received an order and let Antonelli pass, Ferrari took longer to resolve the dispute between its two drivers.
For Hamilton, those seconds made a difference. With the Virtual Safety Car deployment and the subsequent stop, he got close to Russell at the end of the race but couldn’t overtake him. In the seven-time champion’s view, third place could have been his.
Leclerc also disagreed with the strategy. For him, the ideal would have been to stay out for a few more laps, gain advantage with the tires, and try to attack Russell at the end. The order to stop before that made no sense.
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The problem is that, unlike Mercedes, where the scenario remained balanced, the two have reasons to defend their own interests. Hamilton is 59 points behind Antonelli and still wants to fight for the championship. Leclerc is only 28 points behind his teammate and also has no reason to accept a second driver position, especially since he has been established in the team since 2019 and is seen as Ferrari’s big star.
At McLaren, on the other hand, the situation is starting to resolve itself through the results.
Lando Norris won the Dutch GP with more than 30 seconds advantage over Oscar Piastri. More important than the difference in the result was how the Brit managed the race, finally showing his side of “I am the current world champion.”
At the first corner, he took the opportunity to overtake Antonelli on the outside and left no room for a new battle. It was a safer race from Norris, perhaps his best of the year.
Piastri, on the other hand, finished only sixth and admitted he couldn’t extract the car’s pace in several races this season. And with this weak performance, McLaren’s first driver remains Norris, while the justification that Piastri lost the 2025 championship becomes clearer.
Finally, Williams also showed a less healthy side of this struggle for space. Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz have for some time shown on track that the atmosphere within the team is not very friendly. The collision between the two, blamed on Sainz by the Thai driver, was another episode of a disastrous season, precisely after the announcement of the duo’s renewal.
The point is: Williams already has too many problems to worry about in 2027 and, despite being there to compete, the two drivers need to prioritize the team’s recovery at this moment. Only then, without Sainz trying to take Don Corleone’s place in the family, will James Vowles be able to work on an evolution for 2027 and finally allow his drivers to return to the 2025 situation, when they fought for points and even podiums, not for ego.
Other highlights
Max Verstappen had a weekend to forget. The home driver retired from the race after crashing on the first lap and just a few days after announcing a four-year renewal with Red Bull, a decision met with many questions since the car is inconsistent and the team structure no longer seems as solid as in the years of dominance.
A renewal between the four-time world champion and the Austrian team was not a surprise. But a long extension was. And the new deal started with a bad omen: Verstappen on the wall, in front of 105,000 Dutch fans in his last race at the Zandvoort Circuit. The Austrian saga is just beginning…
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso had an important race for Aston Martin. Even with a car that continues to suffer from lack of power, the Spaniard managed to make a one-stop strategy work and finished ninth. It’s a sign that the winds are starting to blow in favor of Adrian Newey’s project.
Lastly, the highlight for Yuki Tsunoda’s participation in the weekend in the Netherlands appears only for this: his return to the grid. The driver had a fair race for Racing Bulls but gave no reasons for teams to fight over a contract. Tsunoda’s phase is over; it’s time to look for alternatives.
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