Lewis Hamilton’s successful drive around Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit gave Mercedes its first podium of the 2023 season, as he ended the weekend in P2.
Despite Hamilton’s strong performance, he was left confused and alone following the Grand Prix when he got out of the car, instead of his usual post-race celebrations with Mercedes.
“Where is everybody? Where the f**k are my team?” Hamilton said, as he looked around bewildered by the lack of support from his own team.
Instead of celebrating the second place finish, Hamilton’s team remained in the garage, with the seven-time world champion seemingly unimpressed with their actions.
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“I don’t know what it means to the team because I haven’t seen anybody, if I’m honest,” Hamilton told F1 TV.
“But for me, this is an incredible result for us. We came here thinking that the car was the same, so we were thinking it’s going to struggle for a few races until we can find some sort of upgrade to bring later on down the line, and that could be five races away.
“For us to qualify on the front two rows and then be in the mix, both racing for first and second, oh my god, it was really super exciting and really unfortunate for George because he was doing such a great job.”
Hamilton’s race was a better affair than his teammate, who was forced to retire early after a poor strategy call and an engine failure.
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Russell had a strong start off the line, taking the lead quickly from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen but, when the safety car was deployed, he dove into the pits for an early tyre change.
Unfortunately, the red flag was waved and Russell was faced with restarting the race down in eighth place.
The mistake from Mercedes would ultimately prove to be irrelevant as Russell had to retire the car laps later when his engine caught fire.