Mercedes have refuted suggestions that members of the team were not present to celebrate Lewis Hamilton’s podium finish at the F1 Singapore Grand Prix.
Hamilton claimed third place behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris after Mercedes teammate George Russell, who had been P3, crashed out on the final lap.
Several fans took to social media after the race to point out an apparent lack of support towards the seven-time world champion, who was seen celebrating with Ferrari and McLaren mechanics in parc ferme.
The matter was addressed in Mercedes’ usual post-race debrief video, with technical director James Allison explaining that some members of the team had to stay in the garage to receive Russell’s car. He also pointed out that TV cameras simply missed Mercedes’ crew as they focused on Ferrari’s celebrations.
“I am going to have to disagree a little bit with the premise of the question,” Allison said.
“Of course the team was there at the podium to celebrate with Lewis. As many of the team as it was practical to get to the podium were there because we enjoy it. We love standing there and clapping and cheering for our driver.
“Necessarily a certain amount of the team had to stay in the garage during that event because we needed to receive George’s car back from the marshals who were bringing it back into the pit lane.
“But the rest of the team were all down at the podium and cheering along with everyone else, but the cameras do not show everything and the big story there was of course the first win this year for a non-Red Bull team.
“So showing all of the overjoyed Ferrari faces was very high up the list of things that made for good TV and indeed the pleasure from the McLaren folk as well.
“There was a very significant number of all teams down there at the podium ceremony, we were a big part of it but not maybe where the camera lighted during the podium celebrations.”
Allison revealed that Russell was “absolutely inconsolable” in the immediate aftermath of his race-ending, last-lap crash.
“I am sure none of you will be surprised to know that he was completely devastated,” Allison explained.
“Probably it is very easy for us to underestimate just how much these drivers put into their driving, how much it matters to them.
“We all know it is important but the degree to which it dominates all their decisions is something that is easy for us to underestimate, and George was absolutely inconsolable in the immediate aftermath of the race.
“However, it is a testament to his character to the strength of his character that instead of crawling into a little hole and suffering in silence notwithstanding the fact that he was that upset he came out he spoke to every single person on the team at the track, apologised to them in person for his mistake and owned it properly.”
