Lewis Hamilton Narrowly Escaped George Russell’s Fate and a Potential Mercedes Disqualification

Mahim Suhalka | 31/07/2024
Lewis Hamilton Narrowly Escaped George Russell's Fate and a Potential Mercedes Disqualification

George Russell failed to win the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend despite crossing the chequered flag in P1 as the FIA judged his car to be underweight after carrying out post-race checks. The FIA revealed that Russell’s car weighed 1.5 kg less than the required weight. Considering Lewis Hamilton’s conversation with his race engineer Peter Bonnington, it seems that the 39-year-old narrowly escaped the same fate that Russell faced at Spa.

The only reason that Hamilton did not suffer the same fate as Russell is because the team did not allow the 39-year-old to opt for a one-stop strategy like the former Williams driver did. As highlighted by RaceFans, Hamilton wanted to extend his stint on the hard tires and think about a one-stopper.

The seven-time champion took to his radio and said, “Tires feel good” on lap 24. Two laps later, he said the same thing on the radio but yet Mercedes called him in. However, when Russell suggested his engineer to opt for a one-stopper, the team interestingly allowed him to opt for such a strategy.

Such a strategy helped Russell not only inherit the race lead from his Mercedes teammate Hamilton but also cross the chequered flag in P1. It was only after post-race checks that it was discovered that Russell’s car weighed less than the required amount.

Therefore, it is only in hindsight that Mercedes made a good decision not to allow Hamilton to go on a one-stopper. Had they done so, they could have risked having both cars disqualified from the race. Since Hamilton inherited the race win from Russell because of the 26-year-old’s misfortunes, he felt for his younger teammate.

Hamilton expresses his mixed feelings toward the Belgian GP win

Hamilton took to Instagram to express why he felt mixed feelings about his 105th race win in Belgium. He wrote, “Mixed feelings for today’s result. Obviously happy to get the win but I feel for George and it’s disappointing for the team not to get the 1-2.”

 

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A post shared by Lewis Hamilton (@lewishamilton)

Hamilton also added how he is happy to see the team back at the front now and believes that Mercedes is showing immense promise. Having won three of the past four races, the Silver Arrows will now look to build on this momentum after the summer break.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
George Russell Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

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Mahim Suhalka

Mahim Suhalka is an F1 journalist at the SportsRush. With an ever-growing love for the sport since 2019, he became a part of the industry two years ago and since then has written over 2200 pieces. A Lewis Hamilton fan through and through and with Hamilton's loyalties shifting to Ferrari, so will his. Apart from F1, he is a Football fanatic having played the sport and represented his state in various tournaments as he still stays in touch with the sport. Always a sports enthusiast Mahim is now translating his passion into words.

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