Hamilton and Russell block each other in Spa sprint shootout finale
Neither of the Mercedes drivers were able to improve their lap time as a result, leaving Hamilton seventh and Russell 10th.
Russell appeared to lock up at Turn One, so Hamilton needed to avoid running into his teammate.
Hamilton was forced to lift off on the Kemmel Straight before overtaking Russell shortly after.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed pole position for Saturday afternoon’s sprint race, followed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri then Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Hamilton asked via team radio: “How much are we down?”
His race engineer replied: “P7. Eight tenths to Verstappen.”
Hamilton then said: “Yeah, it doesn’t help when you’re held up.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
