Lewis Hamilton is happy with Mercedes's current development.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, George Russell defeated Lewis Hamilton to take first place, however the FIA disqualified the younger Mercedes driver due to an underweight car.
Despite teammate George Russell’s heartbreaking result at the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton stated Mercedes will enter the summer vacation in Formula One with “momentum and positivity”.
Leading a Mercedes one-two, Russell had repelled Hamilton’s late charge to claim the chequered flag. However, after FIA inspections revealed that his car was 1.5 kg underweight, he was later disqualified.
After going 945 days without a win prior, Hamilton now has two in a single month after inheriting the 105th of his F1 career. However, that was not how he intended to finish the task at Spa.
After going 945 days without a win prior, Hamilton now has two in a single month after inheriting the 105th of his F1 career. However, that was not how he intended to finish the task at Spa.
READ ALSO: Lewis Hamilton’s place at Mercedes is revealed by Toto Wolff.
“Of course, it is disappointing for the team to lose the one-two, but there are lots of positives to take away from today,” stated the seven-time winner.
Although you don’t want to win a race by being disqualified, I feel bad for George, but in the last few races, we have been competitive again.
Despite Russell’s unfortunate circumstances, Mercedes controlled a race they did not anticipate winning in dry conditions. Their racing pace was much faster than anyone anticipated, and even though Oscar Piastri was closing the gap, nobody else appeared to have a chance to win the Grand Prix.
Hamilton is excited about what may be accomplished when Formula One returns at the end of August for a 10-race dash to the season’s conclusion. “We will need to work hard to battle for wins more consistently because it is incredibly competitive right now,” he continued. Even so, we can approach the summer break with vigor and optimism.
“The car was feeling good, and we had much better pace than we expected. There were several cars that seemed similar in terms of performance but once we had got ahead, we were able to maintain that position.
“We covered those right behind us and stuck to the two-stop plan. Despite my attempts to catch up to George in the last few laps, I was unable to overtake him due to the unclean air.”
Although devastated for Russell, team principal Toto Wolff had a similar message to convey: “We can only apologize to George for driving such a strong race, but losing a one-two is frustrating.” Lewis, who was the fastest man on the two-stop and a worthy winner, is naturally promoted to P1.
“We can learn a lot from this weekend, even with the disqualification. In today’s race, we had a car that set the standard for two distinct strategies. That would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.
We’ve won three of the last four races going into the summer break. After the shutdown, we want to return with renewed vigor and continue on our upward trajectory.”
