From “one of the worst races of his career” in Canada to the “best weekend in a long, long time” in Spain, Lewis Hamilton dramatically turned around his season. However, in both instances, he missed what could’ve been – a podium in Montreal, and his 104th F1 victory in Barcelona. Post-race, the 39-year-old blamed a “bad start” for his initially derailed race. Contrastingly, teammate George Russell’s flying start arose jealousy within him.

Russell got a brilliant start at the Spanish GP, gaining three positions before Turn 1 to take the race lead. However, the tires on Hamilton’s W15 were under optimal temperature, which he complained about during the formation lap. That slow start cost him valuable tenths, and the suboptimal tire condition lost more time in his first stint. So, his hopes of his first F1 victory since his 103rd at the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP were crushed.

In the cooldown room, when a clip of Russell’s triple overtake was played, Hamilton said, “That’s where I should’ve been,” displaying envy as he took his race suit off. “He (Russell) was slower ahead of you, huh?” he questioned race winner Max Verstappen. “It was just that one lap where you had the chance (to overtake),” the Dutchman replied. “Otherwise, tires would overheat.” 

Lando Norris chipped into the conversation, listing his struggles behind Mercedes. “Even on the medium stint, I struggled to get past them (pointing at Lewis) for 5 laps,” he said. “But as soon as I got past, you were gone,” he told Verstappen. “Yeah, that was great,” the Red Bull driver replied. I was watching,” he added, with a wide, cheeky smile and a thumbs up. “Thank you (to Merc).” Meanwhile, Hamilton was still replaying the race start in his head. “Maybe if I hadn’t had that sh*t start, I don’t think it would’ve been as big a gap (to you),” he told the reigning champion.

Though the replays of Russell’s heroic overtake didn’t do him any good, the 7-time champion was in better spirits after the podium celebrations. Though he reiterated his bad start problem, Mercedes’ step toward the top step of the podium was encouraging.

Lewis Hamilton feels energized after “fantastic” Spanish GP podium

The start of Mercedes‘ Spanish GP weekend was horrendous. The police investigation into the ‘sabotage’ claims from an anonymous email sender overshadowed their expectations from the weekend. However, both British drivers showed up when it counted. With a great second-row lockout in qualifying, the stage for a double podium was set. Though it didn’t happen for George Russell, Lewis Hamilton was happy nonetheless.

“I feel great. I feel fantastic,” he said in the post-race F1TV interview, adding, “Still plenty of energy. After a bad start, to recover and get back into P3 is… a really, really great job. My second and last stints were very, very strong. In the first one, I was just recovering from such a bad start. But we’re getting there, slowly closing the gap.”

The next race is on Red Bull‘s home turf in Austria, followed by the British GP, home to both Mercedes drivers. With their revamped W15 and new flexi wings, the Silver Arrows are strong victory contenders for the coming races. If better strategies land in the lap of Russell and Hamilton, the pecking order for 2024 could change dramatically.