Mercedes engineer allegedly sent “unnecessary” message to Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton was clearly unhappy with Mercedes’ strategy during the Belgian Grand Prix, where George Russell took second place before being disqualified.

Lewis Hamilton wins the Belgian Grand Prix after George Russell was disqualified (Image: Getty)

Former F1 boss Peter Windsor says being told to give Lewis Hamilton plenty of space when racing George Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix was an “unnecessary” message to send to the seven-time champion. The Briton finished second in Sunday’s race for the first time, giving his Mercedes teammate his second victory.

But the 39-year-old’s second place became a victory after an FIA investigation after the race found Russell’s car was below the minimum weight required for race evaluation and he was disqualified. It was a bittersweet moment for the 26-year-old, who performed incredibly well in the Spa race despite having to hold off his teammate with just one pit stop. The two were allowed to race on the final lap, but senior race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington told Hamilton to “give each other a lot of space” while chasing Russell. Former F1 manager Peter Windsor believes the message was “unnecessary” and should have been passed on to Russell.

“I thought it was very interesting with two or three laps to go, but they (Mercedes) told Lewis, ‘Give each other a lot of space’. I think they should have passed that message on to George,” Windsor said on his YouTube channel. “They gave it to Lewis, but did it make a difference?” I don’t think there’s any need to say that to Lewis Hamilton because he’s not the kind of driver to do something incredibly stupid, especially to his teammate. “I don’t think Lewis needed to say that at this stage of the race and it might have affected his aggression a little bit. Before Russell was disqualified, Hamilton expressed his disappointment with Mercedes’ strategy during the race, saying: “I tried to get close to George but he did a great job on the long tyres.” Every time I ate the tires, the team separated me. Unfortunately, this is the case. \ “You have to return the religion to the people who work together. I trust my strategists, I can trust them completely, they said the tyres were fine. They took me… Did they know my teammates could stop me? They didn’t tell me.