Hamilton says overheating stopped him fighting Russell for third place

Lewis Hamilton said he was unable to attack his teammate for third place in the closing stage of the Australian Grand Prix because his car was overheating. He had the lead early in the race but the pair swapped positions as Russell was able to make his pit stop during a Safety Car period, saving him time.

In one part of a radio message which was broadcasted, Hamilton was heard saying his team had put him in a “difficult position” as he pursued his teammate. Hamilton said the message referred to rising temperatures in his car.

“I couldn’t race for the position because the car was overheating so I had to back off,” he explained. Russell took third place ahead of Hamilton, who said it was “an amazing result for us as a team” after their poor start to the weekend. “We were 1.2 seconds off on Friday and it wasn’t looking spectacular at that point. We did some great work overnight, qualified on the third row, and then had a great start. I was up in third, it felt amazing to feel like you’re fighting for a podium at that moment but obviously we couldn’t hold the pace of the Red Bulls.

“But whilst we haven’t necessarily improved the car over these three races I think we’ve really extracted the most we could points-wise. I think from my side I let the team down in the last race and didn’t get the points. But to come away with this result is great.”