Annoyed Lewis Hamilton’s frustrated reaction to George Russell incident
The Mercedes pair both had their final laps compromised by each other in the sprint shootout at Spa on Saturday.
Russell locked up, Hamilton needed to avoid his teammate before eventually overtaking.
“Not happy about it, obviously,” was Hamilton’s reaction to being limited to P7.
“It was a really fun session, it was looking great at the end.
“I knew I could go quicker. I reckon I could’ve been first or second in that session on the last lap.
“It’s just… the communication was pretty poor. It was difficult to understand.
“We got to the last corner, there were seven cars, or whatever, trundling around.
“We were led to believe that we didn’t have any more time left which is why we were pushing.
“But it turns out that we had plenty of time.
“Then, obviously, with George, like… it’s the way it is.”
Hamilton was pushed for a reaction to the Russell incident but just said: “I was… well, it doesn’t matter.”
Sky’s Martin Brundle assessed it: “They were obviously compressed as they got into the last lap with space between them.
“It’s a series of incidents which all added up, into Mercedes stepping on their own tails, unfortunately.
“They were nose to tail, Lewis has more drive, better exit, slipstream, better stream through Radillon, then has to get out of the throttle. Both drivers had their lap compromised.”
Hamilton added about the sprint race: “I feel great in the car in all conditions. We are slower than the Red Bulls in the middle sector.
“None of us have driven on heavier fuel. I’m excited that it’s dry today.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
