The Mercedes team faced some difficulties during the Shootout for the Sprint race before the Belgian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton has blamed these difficulties on miscommunication within the team.
After Lewis Hamilton secured a second-row start for the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, fans were expecting him to have a similar or better performance during the Sprint Shootout as well. However, an incident between the two Mercedes prevented that from happening.
George Russell ruined Lewis Hamilton’s lap pic.twitter.com/Rj88Mdz9ov
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With the track evolving over time, all the drivers knew that the final laps of SQ3 would be critical. Before the start of the final laps, Lewis Hamilton was a few car lengths behind George Russell. However, after the younger Brit locked up his tires going into the 1st corner of his final flying lap, Lewis Hamilton came much closer to him. Since both of them were on a push-lap, George did not give way for Lewis Hamilton.
The 7-time Champion was forced to brake behind his teammate while exiting Eau Rouge. This cost a considerable amount of time for both drivers. They will be starting P7 and P10 with Hamilton on top of Russell for the Sprint Race.
Why didn’t George Russell let Lewis Hamilton through?
After the Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was visibly disappointed with the team. During the post-race interview, he said:
“Communication was pretty poor, it was difficult to understand. We got to that last lap and it was seven cars or whatever it was. We were led to believe that we didn’t have anymore time left, that’s why we were pushing. But turns out we had plenty of time. And then obviously George… but that’s the way it is.”
“I reckon I could have been first or second in that session”
Lewis Hamilton reacts to his Sprint Shootout result, and admits he feels ‘great’ in the Mercedes this weekend 👇 pic.twitter.com/ZbmTHMA39q
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Generally, before starting a hot lap, the drivers take it slow to recharge their batteries in their hybrid power unit. However, Mercedes was not confident that both of their cars would be able to cross the line before the end of the session. So they were asked to push the lap before the incident. After completing the lap, the message was not clear about the session’s end. The drivers were not sure if they had another chance to complete a lap or not.
George Russell explains the ‘miscommunication’ at the end of SQ3 between the Mercedes 👇 pic.twitter.com/VSaJKZRW2H
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 29, 2023
This confusion is the reason that George Russell was not aware of Lewis Hamilton behind him. Although both the cars had a poor shootout for the Sprint, the Mercedes cars proved to be fast in the race. So there are possibilities that they could turn things around for the team.
For the main race, Lewis Hamilton will be starting in P3 behind Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. Max Verstappen will be starting from P6 after receiving a penalty for installing a 5th gearbox in his car. So there are possibilities of a good result for Lewis Hamilton during the race on Sunday.