Lewis Hamilton isn’t shying away from making outright comments about his fellow racing colleagues, and by the looks of it, George Russell is no exception for the seven-time world champion. The Japanese Grand Prix witnessed the two Mercedes drivers locking horns in what was one of the most intense battles of the weekend.
In fact, Hamilton re-ignited his long-lost aggression and almost crashed into Russell while attempting to reclaim his spot. However, despite pushing to their absolute limits, the Mercedes duo was hardly the winner. While Hamilton and Russell were busy fighting for authority over each other, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc sneaked his way up into P4. Meanwhile, his teammate, Carlos Sainz managed to split the Mercedes pair and claim P6.
And of course, amidst the close battle with Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, Hamilton was no happy man following the race at Suzuka. The Knighted British legend was quite dissatisfied with Russell’s desperation to beat his own teammate rather than working together and coming up with a ploy to defeat the Ferrari duo.
Hence, during the post-race interview, Hamilton publicly acknowledged Russell was pretty much to blame for his average result at Suzuka. He opined that Russell should’ve swapped positions with him, a move that could have earned Mercedes the opportunity to finish ahead of both the Ferrari drivers.
Lewis Hamilton unhappy with George Russell’s pointless aggression at Japanese Grand Prix
Hamilton reckoned that Russell should have let him by rather than defending hard and burning his fairly old tires in the process. And of course, it almost sounds like the Briton wants more spontaneous reactions from the pit wall, maybe even team orders.
“We should have swapped around earlier and I should have got as far ahead as possible to keep the gap as big as I could to the Ferrari,” the seven-time world champion said following the Japanese Grand Prix. “I think if we had inverted, maybe George would have had a better time holding him behind maybe, but because he was trying to fight me and damaging his tyres then I think it just made it all complicated.”
#JapaneseGP 🇯🇵: Lewis Hamilton: “We should have swapped around earlier and I should have got as far ahead as possible to keep the gap as big as I could to the Ferrari.”
“I think if we had inverted, maybe George would have had a better time holding him behind maybe, but because…
— deni (@fiagirly) September 24, 2023
Overall, Mercedes are now just 20 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings. Hence, a mere bad weekend could leave the Silver Arrows dwindling under immense pressure, or in a worst-case scenario, even losing out to the Reds. Amidst such an incredible battle in the making, which F1 team will clinch P2 in the constructors’ standings?