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Lewis Hamilton finished sixth in the Miami GP after being overtaken by team-mate George Russell in the closing stages of the race
Lewis Hamilton was asked to make a key strategic decision after Lando Norris’s collision with Pierre Gasly on lap 41, as Mercedes tried to decide whether to pit for soft tyres under the resulting safety car.
George Russell took advantage of the situation to stop for quicker medium tyres, allowing him to overtake both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to finish the race in fifth place, leaving him 23 points ahead of Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.
Speaking on Mercedes’ indecisiveness during a key phase, Hamilton said, “In that scenario I have no clue where everyone is so when the team say it’s your choice, I don’t have the information to make the decision. That’s what your job is, make the decision for me. You have all the details. I don’t! That’s what you rely on the guys for, but today they gave it to me and I didn’t understand it.”
The 7-time world champion further added, “It was just a bit unfortunate on the safety car but at least we got points today. We are finishing and reliability is good. We just have to keep trying. I’m excited at some stage to take a step forward, which we haven’t yet.”
Lewis Hamilton himself believes that neither him nor his team, Mercedes are in a position to challenge got the championship title.
Speaking on his team’s chances this season, Hamilton said, “We are obviously not fighting for the championship. But we are fighting to understand the car and improve and progress through the year. That’s all we can hope for right now. We stick together. We try to motivate everyone. This is the situation we are faced with.”
The British driver further added, “A lot of work is going on in the background. But it is what it is, it’s what we have. Ultimately, we haven’t got it right this year but everyone is working as hard as we can to correct it.”
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