Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton did well at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday to recover some strong points, after being eliminated in Q2 on American soil for the first time in his Formula 1 career on Saturday.
After qualifying 13th at the Miami International Autodrome on Saturday, Hamilton would’ve likely laughed had he been told that he’d go on to finish the race in sixth, with the 38-year-old having struggled throughout the weekend.
The race itself didn’t actually start all that great for the Mercedes driver, who found himself stuck in a DRS train for the opening phase of the fifth round of the 2023 season.
Having started on the Hard compound, Hamilton was surrounded by drivers who started the race on the Mediums, meaning they had better grip in the opening laps.
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As a result, Hamilton remained in P13 until some of the drivers on the Medium compound began to make their one and only pit-stop, something which gave the 103-time race winner free air.
Once in clean air, Hamilton showed solid pace, enough to push him into the points places.
However, he was pushed back a place mid-race by team-mate George Russell, who was one of the drivers who started on the middle compound.
Russell found himself behind Hamilton after making his pit-stop, with Mercedes having informed the veteran that his fight wasn’t with his team-mate.
Moments later and Russell overtook Hamilton, before going on to finish the race in fourth.
Hamilton ultimately worked his way up to sixth after he made his one and only stop late on, cementing a strong recovery drive from P13.
Fans were quick to mock Hamilton, though, after the Silver Arrows informed him to effectively let Russell past, with some having labelled the Stevenage-born driver as having received the “Bottas treatment”.
@francishamesha added: “Hamilton team orders to let Russell by hehe he getting Bottas treatment the turns have tabled.”
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Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas was often asked to let Hamilton overtake him during his five-year spell at Mercedes, usually due to the Finn having fallen far behind the Briton.
It meant the pair were rarely battling each other for position, due to Bottas still having to make a pit-stop.
Hamilton wasn’t too keen on letting Russell overtake him easily in Miami; however, he ultimately did so without any issues.