Lewis Hamilton was unsatisfied with his second pit stop timing as he lost out to one-stopping Mercedes team-mate George Russell in Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who was promoted to third on the grid amid Max Verstappen’s grid drop, passed Sergio Perez around the outside at Turn 1 at the start to take second place.
The seven-time champion then remained attached to polesitter Charles Leclerc’s rear and used DRS and slipstream to breeze past the Ferrari on the Kemmel Straight.
But while he controlled proceedings and extended the gap to Leclerc across all stints, Hamilton ended up having to pursue his team-mate on a bold one-stop strategy.
Hamilton would catch Russell with multiple laps to go, but the latter managed to hang on to head Mercedes’ first 1-2 race result since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
However, Hamilton has indicated that he disagreed with Mercedes’ decision to cover Ferrari’s attempted undercut, suggesting that he could’ve avoided a second stop.
“I think it was great,” Hamilton, who could inherit the win as Russell’s car was underweight, expressed.
“George did a fantastic job today. But yeah, fantastic effort to go the one-stop.
“That was pretty smooth sailing, to be honest. I was fully in control. I had plenty of pace and tyres, and it just didn’t end up as it planned.”
Asked whether he considered a one-stop, Hamilton replied: “I think if you listen, you could have heard what I said to the team most of the time.
“But yeah, I think the tyres were pretty good. I still had plenty of tyres and I was going quicker. I didn’t want to stop.”
Hamilton at least attained positives from Mercedes’ miraculous improvement to be in a position to win the race, having endured a nightmare run throughout practice.
“It was literally night and day different today,” he explained. “On Friday, it was pretty disastrous for both of us, and really struggling with balance.
“And then today, the car came alive and I was really surprised to firstly get into the lead and then be pulled away from everyone.
“As I said, it felt fully under control. I’ve not had that for three years. And so that’s why it was also a bit of a strange way to finish it.
“But it is great to go into the summer break with a 1-2. The team really deserved it and did such an amazing job.”
Mercedes has now claimed three victories in the past four races and Hamilton has attributed the marque’s upturn to the W15 now being a better-balanced machine.
“The car is a bit more comfortable,” he added. “The balance through low to medium to high are all much more in line with what we had targeted. Yeah, that’s about it.”
