Lewis Hamilton accused of ‘spinning’ George Russell head-to-head after Monaco upgrades
Trailing George Russell 7-1 in qualifying and attributing this deficit to his teammate using Mercedes’ new front wing in Monaco, Lewis Hamilton is being accused by Jamie Chadwick of “spinning” the narrative.
Coming into Monaco with a 6-1 record against Russell in their intra-team qualifying battle, Hamilton explained his latest defeat by pointing out that Russell was equipped with Mercedes’ new front wing in Monte Carlo.
Lewis Hamilton doesn’t expect to beat George Russell in 2024 qualifying
Qualifying P7, just 0.08 seconds behind Russell who secured P5, Hamilton said, “I anticipated it would be difficult to outqualify George because he has the upgraded component, but it’s just great to see that we are bringing upgrades. I already know automatically that I’m going to lose two-tenths going into qualifying. That’s definitely frustrating.”
Hamilton further stated that he does “not anticipate being ahead of George in qualifying particularly this year,” though he responded with a “we’ll see” when pressed on the claim.
Williams development driver Jamie Chadwick, however, believes Hamilton is “spinning it” to fit his narrative.
“I think he knows what he’s doing,” Chadwick told Channel 4. “He’s spinning it to make it sound like he’s maybe not got the upgrades this weekend which for me, I’m not sure about because a team like Mercedes, they generally always bring upgrades to both cars. It’s not like they need to split it between the two cars. So yeah, I think he should take his hat off to George. He’s 7-1 on someone like Lewis Hamilton, which is incredible. And I think Lewis is probably not happy about that, to be honest. And that’s where that comment has come from.”
The 2024 team-mate wars in numbers
In fact, Hamilton did not have the upgraded front wing in Monaco. One report claimed the drivers tossed a coin to decide who would use it, while another, from Jenson Button, said the seven-time World Champion chose not to use it because damaging the wing in qualifying would have meant a pit lane start as he would have had to revert to an old spec.
Jamie Chadwick believes Hamilton should get used to being second in line for new Mercedes parts.
“He’s on his way out next year,” she said. “George is going to be staying in that seat for what they hope is a long time, so they need to keep that seat and keep George happy. And obviously, that might come at the expense of Lewis being not so happy, but at the same time, George is doing an incredible job, he’s smashing him.”
With better qualifying and race statistics, Russell is also ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings, with 54 points to Hamilton’s 42.