1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve claims Lewis Hamilton did not act like a Champion. Rather, George Russell showed promise.
Lewis Hamilton showed a lot of pace during the 2022 Dutch GP. The Mercedes driver made his way up to the top of the grid and could have even attempted to claim his first win of the 2022 season.
But the Briton lost out on the chance after an erroneous tyre strategy. After Yuki Tsunoda stopped on track, Red Bull pitted race leader Max Verstappen who started the race on the Hard set.
Hamilton and teammate Russell were still on the Medium set of tyres they had started with. And the tyres had slowly begun to wear and lose grip.
Hamilton was leading the race when the race re-started following the safety car period. But Verstappen easily overtook him on his softs and reclaimed the race lead.
Hamilton was furious by the pit strategy that cost him a possible win. Hamilton was heard fuming on the radio, “I can’t believe you guys f**** me, can’t tell you how *** I am.”
1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve showed no sympathy for Hamilton. He said, “I was astonished by Lewis Hamilton‘s outburst in the race and especially by the way in which he did it. He was aggressive, almost insulting.”
He adds, “It’s good that he apologised, but this does not befit a champion. After everything the team has meant to him, you shouldn’t speak to them like that.”
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George Russell took a better call than Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton was visibly dejected after losing the chance to win his first race this season. But his teammate George Russell impressed everyone by taking the right strategy call.
Hamilton and Russell started on the same set of tyres for the race. While Hamilton was leading for the Russell was closely following his teammate at P2.
But Russell sensed that his tyres weren’t fit to continue further, and he chose to Pit. And this strategy proved to be right as Russell managed to finish on the podium with a P2 finish behind Verstappen.
Jacques Villeneuve was impressed by the rookie’s awareness to take the strategy call. Villeneuve said Lewis was expected to take such an all, considering the experience, but he failed to do so.
“George Russell is quickly developing into the leader of the team. He took the decision to go for the soft tyres himself. Hamilton, with all his experience and championships, could have done the same.”
With that podium, Russell continued his streak of finishing in the top 5 in every race he has finished at. Russell also moves to 4th in the championship, 30 points ahead of teammate Hamilton.
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