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F1 pundit Karun Chandhok feels that there is some friction starting to creep in between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell after the 2023 F1 Japanese GP.
The race in Suzuka saw the two drivers lock horns multiple times. It started early in the race with Russell pulling a move on Lewis at the chicane after 130R but the former champion promptly took the place back on the next straight.
This was followed by another overtake attempt close to the pit window and this time around, George Russell was pushed wide on the spoon curve by Lewis Hamilton. With Lewis pitting first, George was put on a one-stop strategy to try something different.
At the end of the race when George Russell was told to switch positions with Lewis Hamilton, it led to a team radio back and forth with the young driver ultimately ceding position.
After the race, there was some conversation about what was going on at Mercedes between the duo. Karun Chandhok highlighted the points standings as a sign that there was some needle between the two drivers. Karun said on the Sky Sports post-race show:
"He [Hamilton] is 75 points ahead of George. He was quite quick to point that out! There was needle with George. There is a little bit of needle between the two drivers.”
Touching on the strategy, Karun said:
"He didn’t have too much to lose at that point. If he did the two-stop which everyone else did, he would have ended up in the same place. He was ahead of Alonso, they tried a gamble, he ended up ahead of Alonso. It was worth a punt, they finished seventh which is where they would have been anyway.”
Damon Hill weighs in on the Lewis Hamilton-George Russell debate
Damon Hill also weighed in on the debate and said that George Russell is realizing that he's too far behind Lewis Hamilton in the points standings and that is what has made him a bit desperate. He said:
"He can see Lewis has gone way ahead in the driver’s championship. He wants a good result. Two-stop, one-stop, he probably would have ended with the same result, and he has to suck that up.”
Lewis Hamilton ended the race in P5 while George Russell was P7.
