George Russell’s “Hot-Headed” Complaint Against Lewis Hamilton Creates Dangerous Forecast for Spanish GP

Mercedes made a strong comeback in the last race, with their drivers finishing P3 and P4 with George Russell on the podium. Their car has had some significant upgrades and the W15 is finally competitive. Despite having the best results all season, Lewis Hamilton was not happy with the result as he believed that he deserved a podium. But like Michael Masi told Toto Wolff at the 2021 final race, “It’s called a motor race.”

This weekend, Lewis Hamilton qualified P3 with his teammate with him in the second row. To get a better grid start than Russell, the 7x champion had planned a strategy to set a quick lap time. However, this was the same idea that George Russell had and when he realized that he couldn’t pull it off due to Hamilton being in the way, he sent out a frustrated radio message that caught the attention of everyone. After the race, the Mercedes driver came to explain the radio message, and here is what he had to say.

George Russell’s reasoning for his radio message during the Spanish Qualifiers

The qualifiers are as important as the race according to many F1 pundits. So when George Russell was locked into the plan of getting a tow from Esteban Ocon, having Lewis Hamilton actively taking a tow while Russell was planning on doing the same, got to the younger Mercedes driver. In the heat of the moment, the Briton driver exclaimed, “What the f*** was Lewis doing prepping that lap?”

To calm George Russell down, his engineer Marcus Dudley responded, saying, “It’s fine. We’ll talk about it after. Head in the game.” After the qualifiers, he was asked about the message, to which he explained, “Lewis was quite a long way ahead of me, but we both had our eyes on the same driver for the slipstream for opening the lap.” Russell further explained, “So I was focusing on my mirrors not to impede Ocon, and next thing I looked up and Lewis was right in front of me trying to take the tow from Ocon, in the moment when you’re trying to get everything, you’re a bit hot-headed, but nothing gained, nothing lost.”

With the W15 being a car that can perform, Mercedes is using everything in their arsenal to catch up to the competition. This means driver’s giving it their all not only with their driving but also the strategies they put into play. While Lewis Hamilton finished P3 with a successful tow from Ocon, he was not the only one who had an assist during the qualifiers. Let’s take a look at how Max Verstappen got his P2 position on the starting grid in Barcelona.

Max Verstappen uses a tow to secure the front row in Spain

The RB20 was deemed to be the fastest car on the grid at the beginning of the season. Although it had a good run at the start of the season, Melbourne was when the cracks began to show. Miami was when Red Bull knew that other teams were catching up, as Max Verstappen lost his first race on merit.

While there was a safety car in play in Miami, leading to Lando Norris’ first win, the McLaren driver has gotten extremely close to beating the defending champion. To make sure that Red Bull does not lose out during the qualifiers, he received a tow from his teammate, whose lap was timed around the time Verstappen would start his flying lap. This is how the defending champion managed to qualify two-hundredths slower than Norris, still a very respectable time to clock in at. Now it will all come down to the race to see which car is the quicker car on the grid.

If Norris wins the next race, it will be evident that the Red Bulls are not as dominant as everyone thought they would be. With all the teams bringing in their A-games for the Spanish Grand Prix, who do you think will take the victory tomorrow? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.