Hamilton looked to be in contention for a potential podium fi𒊎nish in Melbo𝓡urne but finished fourth behind Mercedes teammate George Russell after losing out due to unfortunate timing of the Safety Car. 

The seven-time world champion had just made his sole pit stop before the Safety Car was deployed when Sebastian Vettel crashed out on Lap 24, while Russell ♐was able tꦗo make what was effectively a free stop by coming in when the race was neutralised. 

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As a result, Russell was able to jump ahead of Hamilton, who bemoaned over team radio: “I keep getting unlucky with Safety Cars”, in what was a reference to Jeddah last time out and the controversial 2021 seꦍason finale in ༒Abu Dhabi. 

Hamilton closed⛦ up to the back of his teammate in the final few laps but backed off at the end after complaining that Mercedes had “put me in a difficult position”. 

Asked to explain his frustra♈ted radio message and whether it had related to him being behind Russell, Hamilton replied: “Basically, I couldn’t🎶 race for position because the car was overheating, so I had to back off.”

Hamilton made a blistering start to get the jump on Lando Norris’ McLaren and Sergio Perez going into Turn 1 to move up to third. He managed to keep the Red Bull driver behind for 1🔜0 laps before ꩵPerez surged back past. 

Mercedes went into the race expecting a “best case🐼” scenario of fifth and sixth given its pace deficit♐ to rivals Ferrari and Red Bull, but both drivers demonstrated encouraging pace and benefitted from Max Verstappen’s latest retirement. 

“It’s an amazing result for us as a t𒅌eam,” Hamilton said. “It’s such a positive. 𝄹;

“We were over one second off on Friday and it wasn’t looking spectacular at 💙that point. We did some great work overnight to qualify on the third row and then a great start. 

“I was up in third and it felt great to be fighting, or to feel like we’re fighting for a podium in that moment. But obviously🤡 we couldn’t hold with th🀅e pace of the Red Bulls. 

“Whilst we haven’t necessarily improved🔯 the car over these three r🌞aces, I think we’ve really extracted the most we could points-wise. 

“From my siꦰde, I let the team down in the last race and didn’t get the points but to come away with th🐈is result, is great.” §

Russell grabs first Mercedes podium 

Russell h♏ighlighted the importance of having strong reliability after claiming his first podium since joining Mercedes, a result which has lifted him to a surprise second in the championship. 

"I think it's a crꦦedit to every♓one back at Brackley and Brixworth because it doesn't matter how fast your car is, if you don't make it to the end, then you're not there to pick up the pieces,” Russell said. 

“This weekend, we were probably the fifth-fastest team, behind McLaren, behind Alpine and here we are standing P3. I only just realised somebody told me that I꧋ am P2 in the championship which is just crazy to think. 

“We've got to be really proud of the job we've done so far with the performance we have and we believe we can get there but i🌃t's not going to happen overnight and it's going to be a number of races before we start closing the gap.” 

The Briton admitted he would have probably dropped behind Hamilton had he not followed Mercedes’ instruction to prioritise looking af꧟ter his tyres, rather than fighting Perez for position. 

“I don't want to manage tyres, I am a racing driver, I want to fight for my posℱition,” Russell explained. 

“The place I needed to manage the tyres around the last corner which obvio🌠usly leads onto the straight, so if I manage the tyre I was just a sitting duck and that's not what I wanted to do. 

♌“But I am the driver and they're the experts on that front and they know they've got the data in front of them. I mean I can see it on my steering wheel, my tyre temperatures were really on the limit and if I pushed harder I probably would have fi🤪nished behind Lewis as well. 

“I put u๊p a fight at one point but they're too quick for us.”