Lewis Hamilton: “I definitely didn’t expect to be second this weekend”

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s Lewis Hamilton earned the team their first podium of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship with a second place finish at the extraordinarily eventful Australian Grand Prix. 

Starting from third place on Sunday morning, his highest start of the season so far, Hamilton was able to secure second after making it through a race full of shock events, from his team-mate George Russell’s fiery power-unit failure to the major crashes at the restart after the day’s third red flag. 

After securing the “amazing” result, Hamilton said that he is excited to have been able to compete with the strong Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team from qualifying through to the race in spite of their being “down on performance” this year. 

“To get a podium today is amazing; I definitely didn’t expect to be second this weekend, so I am super grateful. Considering we’re down on performance, to be fighting with the Aston Martins is amazing for us at this point in the season.”

Hamilton is keen to continue the battle for results with the team, with hopes that they can come nearer to the season’s frontrunners. 

“We’ve just got to keep fighting. A big thank you to all the people back at the factory. We can close that gap; it’s going to be tough but not impossible.”

Hamilton lamented the power-unit issue that ended Russell’s race in Albert Park early, especially considering Mercedes’ rather solid record for reliability. 

“It was very unlucky for George today. Our reliability has generally been pretty good so that was unfortunate.”

“Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone here in Melbourne and Australia. I’ve had the best week here and this town continues to put on a great show.”

“We did everything right this weekend” – George Russell

Russell saw his chance to challenge for victory in Australia fade away with his retirement on lap seventeen. Having started on the front row alongside championship leader Max Verstappen, the British driver said that everything had gone smoothly until his power-unit failure. 

“We did everything right this weekend. We had a great Qualifying yesterday and today, the start was perfect. We managed the first stint well and I could have extended it quite a lot more. I’ve felt comfortable and strong in the car on all three days.”

Having had a strong start to the race that saw him take the lead, Russell felt that he truly had the potential to bring home the victory. Rather, it was a sudden problem that would come to define his day.

“I see no reason why we couldn’t have fought for victory today, so it’s disappointing. As soon as I came through the high-speed turn 10, I felt something go. Three corners later, I was stopped. When it’s not your day, it’s not your day.”

Though Russell left Australia empty-handed, he said that the team did everything they could to bring home results and will still have to keep developing if they want to challenge front-running Red Bull Racing.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do to catch Red Bull, but we can take the positives from this weekend. Every time we’ve taken to the track, we couldn’t have done any more. We maximised everything and I’m proud of the job that we have done.”

Credit: LAT Images / Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team