Lewis Hamilton clarifies his radio message towards the end of F1 Australian GP, as he feels great with the results for Mercedes.
Mercedes’ Hamilton had a radio moment towards the end of F1 Australian GP while he was behind George Russell in fourth. He just said ‘you guys put me in a really difficult position’, which wasn’t clear if it was for the situation of team orders.
Russell ahead in third was in scope of Hamilton. When asked to clarify post-race, the Brit noted that it was over overheating issue faced by him and not related to any call regarding hold position. “I didn’t say the team wasn’t helping me,” he said to written media.
“Basically, I couldn’t race for position because the car was overheating. So I had to back off.” Hamilton bounced back well from Jeddah where he was knocked out in Q1. The Australian GP also started off on a slow note but by qualifying, they picked up.
In the grand prix, he had a solid start to be third but Red Bull’s Sergio Perez came back on to reclaim the place. He won the place again via pit stop but the Mexican managed to pass him once more. A safety car period allowed Russell to jump both the drivers.
Towards the end, Russell was in touching distance of Hamilton, but they maintained the position, which helped them to retain second place in the constructors’ championship. “It’s an amazing result for us as a team,” he said. “Honestly, it’s such a positive.
“We were 1.2 seconds off, I think, on Friday. And it wasn’t looking spectacular at that point. We did some great work overnight, qualifying on the third row, and then great starts. I was up in third. It felt amazing to be fighting, or feel like we’re fighting for a podium in that moment. But obviously we couldn’t hold the pace of the Red Bulls.
“But whilst we haven’t necessarily improved the car over these three races. I think we’ve really extracted the most we could points wise. I think from my side, I let the team down in the last race and didn’t get the points but to come away with this result is great,” summed up Hamilton.
Here’s how F1 Australian GP panned out
