Lewis Hamilton breaks down the reason for the surprising swap with George Russell at the Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton’s call to let George Russell through was criticized by fans on social media

Lewis Hamilton (L) and George Russell (R) (images via IMAGO), George Russell overtaking Lewis Hamilton (via F1).

The Japanese GP was a difficult race for Mercedes. The Silver Arrows had an underwhelming result in Qualifying with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell starting the race in P7 and P9 respectively. Things got worse in the race, with Hamilton deciding to let his teammate through. Now, the seven-time world champion has opened up on this controversial decision.

Lewis Hamilton had suggested to let Russell pass on team radio. This was met by scrutiny from fans online. The seven-time world champion highlighted that the hard tires were a challenge for the two Mercedes cars in the race. Moreover, the 39-year-old revealed that his car sustained damage after making contact with Charles Leclerc.

We had two terrible hards tyres to run through. It was a challenge today. I picked up some damage when I had Charles around the outside.

Lewis Hamilton said

Subsequently, Hamilton suffered heavy understeer throughout the Grand Prix. This led to the Briton making the call to allow his teammate to overtake him. The seven-time world champion failed to keep up with his teammate following the driver swap and crossed the line in ninth place. While George Russell finished in seventh.

[I] had horrible understeer and let George by.

Lewis Hamilton stated

Lewis Hamilton claims Mercedes could’ve done ‘nothing more’ at the Japanese GP

The seven-time world champion admitted Mercedes could not have done anything more to improve its performance this weekend. Lewis Hamilton claimed that he didn’t know if the team could’ve used a different strategy for the race instead of using the hard compound tire.

Nothing [more could’ve been gained]. I don’t know what the different strategy would’ve been.

Lewis Hamilton continued

Lewis Hamilton (Via: Imago)
However, Lewis Hamilton admitted that the medium tire was much better than the hards. The 39-year-old speculated that things could have been better for the Silver Arrows if the team kept two medium sets for the Grand Prix instead of the two sets of hards. This could have potentially allowed Hamilton to push during the race and potentially even fight for a podium spot.

In hindsight it looks like it we should’ve had two medium tires.

Lewis Hamilton stated

Lewis Hamilton will be looking to move on from yet-another disappointing result this season. The 39-year-old would hope that Mercedes could improve in the coming races with an influx of in-season upgrades to end his 13-year-long journey with the Brackley-based team on a high note. However, it remains to be seen how things pan out for Hamilton and the Silver Arrows in the next round in China.