Lewis Hamilton drove a fantastic race this past weekend in Singapore, finishing on the final step of the podium. The Briton had a bit of luck go his way after his Mercedes teammate George Russell crashed into the barriers from third place on the final lap of the race. Since the Silver Arrows were so focused on the 25-year-old’s accident, some team members did not attend Hamilton’s podium celebrations. However, some fans perceived the same as Mercedes, showing a lack of support towards Hamilton.
While speaking on the most recent episode of Mercedes’ race debrief, technical director James Allison explained how the team’s seemingly lack of support for Hamilton in Singapore was blown out of proportion. Allison’s remarks come after several Max Verstappen fans took to social media and slammed Mercedes for supposedly not supporting their driver.
Allison defends Mercedes amid criticism from fans
After every race weekend, James Allison appears on an episode of Mercedes’ race debrief and answers some questions from the fans. One of the questions that the fans asked the Briton was why the Silver Arrows were not present during Lewis Hamilton’s podium celebrations.
In reply, the 55-year-old said, “I am going to have to disagree a little bit with the premise of the question because, of course, the team was there at the podium to celebrate with Lewis. As many of the team as it was practical to get to the podium were there because we enjoy it. We love standing there and clapping and cheering for our driver“.
Allison then added that all of the Mercedes team could not be present during Hamilton’s podium celebrations because some of them had to wait in the garage to receive George Russell’s car after the 25-year-old’s accident. However, he made it clear that the rest of the team were all down there to celebrate the 38-year-old’s podium.
Allison believes that the cameras do not always show everything. The Mercedes team director stated that since Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the first non-Red Bull driver to win a race this season, the focus of the cameramen were primarily on the Spaniard and his team.
However, since Mercedes have been struggling to win races since the start of last season, tensions have been growing between the team and Hamilton. The seven-time champion has often criticized his team this year for not doing a good enough job to reach Red Bull’s level.
Lewis Hamilton has repeatedly expressed his frustrations with Mercedes
During the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, Lewis Hamilton explained in one of his interviews how Mercedes needed to do a far better job to get to the level of Red Bull. As quoted by independent.co.uk, the 38-year-old said, “We just have to level up and do a better job.”
The Briton then added that one cannot fault Red Bull because the team has simply done “an exceptional job” this season. As a result, Hamilton believes that it is the responsibility of Mercedes to “level up” to Red Bull and challenge them once again in the future.
