George Russell faces online abuse from Lewis Hamilton fans as list of targets keeps increasing after Dutch GP

George Russell is the latest F1 professional to face online abuse from Lewis Hamilton fans. The Mercedes driver follows Red Bull strategy engineer Hannah Schmitz and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda.

Russell was behind Hamilton during the safety car period at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort on Sunday when he requested to pit for fresh soft tyres. Mercedes acceded, leaving Hamilton exposed to Max Verstappen, who was on fresher tyres.

At the safety car restart, Verstappen easily surpassed Hamilton and so did Russell and Charles Leclerc. Russell finished second, while Hamilton was off the podium in P4. That enraged Hamilton fans, who targeted Russell for pitting and exposing the former to Verstappen.

Here are some tweets:

"1. You should if stayed on same strategy as Lewis he didn’t have ‘cold’ tyres, 2. Protected him covering of Max, 3. You thought about yourself and nearly took him out, 4. You were not a team player today and have disappointed so many"

"You do not deserve respect because you are playing against Lewis inside of the team. Mercedes is manipulating the results in your favor and against Lewis. Lewis should find a honesty company to drive. The trust is broken."

"Sorry George but I’ve lost every last bit of respect I had for you after that stunt you pulled. I refuse to support you if you’re not prepared to play the team game"

"Why did you let Max pass you so easily early in the race.. you acted like you were being lapped? Then at the end of the race all pally with him.. no wonder you'll never win a race. Remember you drive for Mercedes not red bull."

"He would have been on the podium if you had not selfishly insisted on pitting 4 soft tyres leaving Lewis out there on his own w/no defense against Max. Then you overtake him in a dangerous manner to claim P2. I have lost all respect 4 you. Lewis deserved better from you today."

---

George Russell explains strategic dilemma Mercedes faced in Dutch GP

In the post-race press conference, George Russell explained the dilemma Mercedes faced in the Dutch GP. He said that the team - looking for a first win of the season - decided that pitting Russel was their best bet.

With Hamilton hedging his bet on sticking with the mediums, Mercedes split strategies between the two drivers. Russell said that as the two drivers had already pitted, both staying out would have played into Verstappen's hands.

So Mercedes decided to keep one driver ahead of the Dutchman and the other behind to give themselves a shot at victory - which was eventually not to be.

"I think as a team it was an incredibly difficult decision because had we both pitted, we would have conceded the position to Max," said Russell. "Had we both stayed out, we probably both would have lost out to Max as well so the best chance we as a team had of victory was splitting the cars, one to stay ahead of Max, one to stay behind and see what happened."

He added that had Hamilton pitted, the outcome could have been different for Mercedes.

"If you could have just got those tyres restarted, it could have been different, but it was always going to be very, very challenging for him, but I'm sure Lewis… he wanted to go for it."

Russell is now 30 points ahead of Hamilton (158) in the championship in what has been an impressive first season with Mercedes for the young Englishman.