Lewis Hamilton commended George Russell for keeping him behind at the Belgian Grand Prix – and then fired a thinly-veiled jab at Mercedes for handing his team-mate victory at Spa.
Hamilton had led for the majority of the 44-lap race out front and looked to be heading towards a second victory in three races when he closed up to Russell – who was on a one-stop strategy – towards the end.
But the 26-year-old somehow managed to preserve some grip to defend against Hamilton, despite being on the same set of hard tyres for 34 laps, and nursed his Mercedes W15 over the line to take his third career victory.
Hamilton was full of praise for his fellow Briton, but appeared to take aim at Mercedes’ strategy after suggesting he could have extended both stints before his pit stops.
“I was trying to get close to him but George did a great job on going long on the tyres,” Hamilton told F1 TV after the race. “Every stint, I had tyres left. It’s unfortunate but it is what it is.”
For Mercedes to be back on the top of the podium at Spa, when neither driver was in the top eight in free practice on Friday, marked a huge turnaround.
Hamilton also started third only after Max Verstappen’s penalty was applied, while Russell was sixth on the grid. Mercedes chief Toto Wolff said he expected a “best case podium” before the race and Hamilton, 39, echoed the Austrian’s comments by admitting he didn’t expect a 1-2 finish.
“We didn’t expect this. First, I have to say congrats to George and the team. The car was nowhere on Friday,” Hamilton added.
“We made some changes, it was hard to see what it would feel like but the car was fantastic today.”
The Austrian also explained why the team kept Russell on a one-stop and pitted Hamilton twice, despite him being in the lead.
“I’d like to have two winners today but we had to cover [Charles] Leclerc and [Lando] Norris, because we would have been undercut, and that was the call,” Wolff said.
“George had nothing to lose. We were P5, the one-stop and the two-stop were showing P5 [on their strategy planner], so we kept him out.”
The result means Hamilton is now sixth in the drivers’ standings on 143 points, just two clear of Russell, after the pair gazumped Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in Belgium.
