David Coulthard’s ‘frank’ take on disgruntled Lewis Hamilton

Russell would hold off Hamilton to the end, and though he was later disqualified for an underweight Mercedes W15, giving Hamilton the win after all, Hamilton had expressed his frustration – before news of Russell’s DQ arrived – over not being offered the one-stop option, feeling he had tyre life left in every stint.

But, speaking on the Formula For Success podcast, Coulthard argued that Hamilton should not feel hard done by because his team-mate figured out a faster way to the finish line, as “that’s the way it should be”, rather than the lead driver on the track getting preference.

He compared the situation to what went down in Hungary, where McLaren undercut leader Oscar Piastri with his team-mate Lando Norris, before ordering Norris to concede P1 back to Piastri. That did not sit well with Coulthard.

“Not all well with Lewis after the race,” said Coulthard.

Before we found out that George was underweight, you can tell Lewis was not really happy that strategically he’d been outmanoeuvred by his team-mate.

“I don’t fully get that. I don’t know if there was some kind of agreement between them that they would work for the greater good of the team, but Lewis did not look at all happy immediately after the Grand Prix being interviewed in the pen.

“He was almost saying, ‘Well, I’ll discuss this with the team behind closed doors and try and understand how did I get outstrategised by my team-mate?’

“To be frank, I think that that’s the way it should be. If a team-mate and an engineer on the opposing car can find a better way to get to the end of the Grand Prix, I don’t think it should be after you just because you’re the lead driver.

“That was what we saw in Budapest, where there was that really disappointing switcheroo.”