For the second successive race weekend, George Russell has complained about undue pressure from his illustrious teammate, Lewis Hamilton.

In Singapore the youngster was unhappy at the fact Hamilton was all over the rear end of his car as he hunted down the race leader, Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. A mistake on the final lap subsequently saw Russell go into the barriers allowing Hamilton to claim the final podium position.

On Sunday, Russell once again found himself under attack from Hamilton, his cause not helped by the fact that he was one a one stop strategy, while the seven-time world champion was on fresh rubber having gone for a two-stopper.

Hamilton had started just ahead of Russell but after being forced off track by Sergio Perez suffered damage to his car which caused a loss of pace, which clearly added to Russell's frustration.

While Russell got past his teammate on Lap 5 the pair continued to scrap until Hamilton pitted on Lap 16, remerging in 10th.

With his one-stop strategy, Russell pitted on Lap 24 and rejoined behind Hamilton as battle recommenced.

The status quo was maintained until Lap 34 when Hamilton made his second stop, and while he rejoined in seventh, two places down on Russell, it wasn't long before he was breathing down his teammate's neck.

As the long second stint began to take its toll on Russell's tyres, the youngster losing out to Charles Leclerc, Hamilton asked to be let by in order that he could attack the Monegasque driver.

"Who do we want to fight here, each other or the others?" snapped Russell who was eventually told to yield to his teammate who himself was under pressure from Carlos Sainz.

Once ahead, Hamilton was asked to use the same DRS strategy used to great effect by Sainz in Singapore, but the Briton claimed this would leave both Mercedes at the mercy of the Spaniard and instead pulled away leaving Russell to his own devices.

"When you're in the car, 48 laps in, giving it everything, trying to make a suboptimal strategy work, that radio is a tool to release frustration," said Russell at race end of his radio messages. "It wasn't for any big positions and at the end didn't change our race result whatsoever.

Referring to the decision to place him on a one-stop strategy, he said: "It was definitely worth a punt. The three-stop was closer, or faster, than the one-stop was, but the one-stop gave us a chance to be in P3 if there was a safety car or a red flag.

"Overtaking was difficult, you saw Piastri with much fresher tyres, he didn't fly by, it took him two laps and he only just achieved it. It's easy in hindsight. Ultimately we did have a shot but the end result was a fair representation."

Asked about his decision not to comply with the instruction to use DRS to aid Russell, Hamilton said: "When they suggested it to me, I knew that they obviously thought of it from the last race and it made no sense. I needed to get as far clear ahead as possible.

"I was on my way," he continued, "I was around two seconds ahead and they asked me to give George DRS. I had to come off the gas down the straight to get him 0.8 seconds behind.

"Then he got the DRS but then he got overtaken which was going to happen because he was on a one-stop. "Then Sainz was right on my tail, so not ideal. It made it very, very hard for the last couple laps.

"For sure we will talk offline, that's the best way always to do it," he concluded.

"It's easy to read a lot into those radio messages in the heat of the moment," said the German team's chief communications officer, Bradley Lord who was deputising for Toto Wolff. "As always, we talk about it away from the pressure and the high temperatures of the cockpit in the debrief. That's where anything gets tidied up that needs tidying up."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 28/09/2023 0:25

"@ Spindoctor...opinions can be biased and vice versa.

@meatball...'he won't move over for anyone' ...are you saying that Hamilton drives for Hamilton and not Mercedes?

"

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2. Posted by meatball, 27/09/2023 15:39

"Just admit the one-stop was a bad call. Own the mistake and quit griping. Ham's record speaks for itself and he won't be moving over for anyone. George is in one of the best teams, could have been driving a top car. At times he's better at adapting to the shopping cart they've given him to drive but he is still mentally weaker than his teammate."

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 27/09/2023 14:04

"Much as I loathe pedantry, there *is* a difference between 'opinion' & 'bias'..."

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4. Posted by kenji, 27/09/2023 0:12

"@ Chester...not all biases are negative. It works both ways. "

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5. Posted by Chester, 26/09/2023 18:53

"@Kenji. It does seem to me ole Lewis has later in his career perfected the art of pushing other drivers off, or barring that, touching another car enough to pass them without damaging his own car.

But maybe I am biased. "

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6. Posted by Jean-Pierre, 26/09/2023 17:52

"GR is better get his act together soon. He is much slower than LH and should not compromise the team's best possible position during races, which he has been doing a lot."

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7. Posted by TokyoAussie, 26/09/2023 3:45

"I think Russell was attacking Hamilton early in the race, legitimately. I think Hamilton returned the favour later, legitimately. If Russell was being attacked by Hamilton near the end, it's because he wasn't fast enought to pull a gap. Tough cheddar. End of story."

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8. Posted by kenji, 25/09/2023 23:59

"@ Chestwer...Whilst never actually seeing what went on in the background at MB, Bottas' compliance was always hard to accept. Did he have one hand tied behind his back? Russell is a different proposition altogether and it's hard to separate whether he's just arrogant and mouthy or naively over confident in his own abilities? Hamilton is eminently beatable and Russell knows it however Hamilton's also known for pushing people off track and regularly getting away with it as this latest episode bears out. One can only hope that this comp progresses further as wheel to wheel is always preferable to saccharine conga lines."

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9. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 25/09/2023 19:12

"@chester - Russell has a very different personality to Bottas. He’s not going to fulfil that supporting role.

There may be trouble ahead (and not much moonlight, music, love or romance). "

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10. Posted by Chester, 25/09/2023 13:41

"Look at the bright side, George. At least you are not stuck at Williams. You are, however, the new Bottas.

Dig deep, George, and catch Lewis napping like Nico did. Get under his skin. That is the only way."

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11. Posted by Superbird70, 25/09/2023 12:55

"I think that if the DRS ploy was going to work for maximum Mercedes points it would need Russel to be in front so that the two cars with similar tire strategies would be kept behind with Hamilton blocking Sainz for both. Maybe Russel should have a conversation with Perez about the role of a number two?"

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12. Posted by equator180, 25/09/2023 10:56

"Seems Lewis has his following as well as the team behind him. Pushing Russel off the track was a classic Lewis move as was the quick jump towards him a few laps previous for all to see on the telecast. Russel is a very good driver and unfortunately, he is not the favorite son and has to either endure or leave."

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