Ex-Ferrari Boss Crushes Lewis Hamilton’s Accusation About Mercedes Betraying His “Faith” in Belgium
Like every other year, the 2024 Belgian GP came with its own host of dramatics. Right from the starting line, Lewis Hamilton excelled by taking over Sergio Perez and moving into second place. Just when he got to lap 3, he surpassed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as well. But George Russell pulled off an impressive one-pit-stop finish to win the race over Hamilton. Thus, the 7-time World Champion had to settle for second place, feeling betrayed by Mercedes since it was the team’s plan to give him a two-pitstop strategy that held him back from catching up with Russell.
When George Russell and Lewis Hamilton crossed the chequered flag, the Mercedes team had a glorious 1-2 finish. But their happiness did not last long. Soon after the race ended, the FIA stewards disqualified Russell because his W15 could not pass the weight tests. So, Lewis inherited his 105th Grand Prix victory as the race-winner George Russell walked away with zero points. But the 39-year-old was not happy to get his much-deserved win this way. So, he threw an accusation at his team for not helping him go for a win against George Russell in the race.
After the race was over, Lewis Hamilton realized that George had beaten him with a one-pitstop strategy. Then, the Briton blamed Mercedes for not letting him follow his teammate’s route, saying, “You have to put your faith in the people that you work with so I put my faith in my strategist. I should be able to lean on him fully. I told him that the tires were fine and they called me in. Did I know that I was at risk of getting one-stopped by my teammate? They didn’t tell me that.”
via Reuters
But former British F1 boss Peter Windsor does not agree with Hamilton in this case. According to him, Mercedes should not take the blame for not suggesting a one-pitstop strategy to the 105-time F1 Grand Prix winner. Windsor said on Cameron F1’s podcast, “I don’t think, personally, I’d be surprised if Lewis is in a position to criticize his team because he wasn’t on a one-stop strategy. I think that needed to come as much from the driver as it did from the team. Because it was a spontaneous thing and, you know, the team can’t be criticized.”
But Windsor did not just stop at this, negating another statement that Hamilton had made about Mercedes not feeding him enough information. So, what did Peter Windsor say?
Peter Windsor defends Mercedes against Hamilton’s “information” attack
Because of Hamilton and Russell going head-to-head at the Belgian GP, a lot of accusations flew at Mercedes. During the course of the race, Lewis Hamilton had his race engineer Peter Bonnington tell him, “Box, box” over the team radio. So, he went to the pit stops. But when George Russell had the same orders from his crew, he took control of the situation and told them he did not need the tire change.
via Reuters
So, Peter Windsor believes Lewis could have followed his young teammate’s example. The Briton could have given his feedback on the tires to Bono and refused to go into the pit stops rather than waiting for his crew to give him information on the tires. Thus, the Briton said, “I don’t think the team withheld information from him.”
Now, Windsor has refuted all the complaints Lewis Hamilton made against Mercedes. Next year, the Stevenage native will go to Ferrari. So, Hamilton might have suspected the Silver Arrows did not disclose the information on the tires to him because he does not have a future with the team. Do you think the same? Share your opinions in the comments below.
