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Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton joked about the disqualification of the former from the Belgian Grand Prix during their fan meet at the Italian GP on Sunday. It was an unexpectedly great race for the German team at Spa-Francorchamps just before the summer break in late July, as they finished 1-2 on the track as Russell led his seven-time world champion teammate to the line.
However, the result was taken away from them after they celebrated on the podium in front of the world as the 26-year-old was disqualified for a lighter car by 1.5 kg, which prompted Hamilton to P1 and took away 18 points from the team.
Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell joked about the disqualification during their fan meet-up at Monza ahead of the Italian GP, as the 39-year-old said:
"We're a bit too heavy rn, we cant have pizza"
To which the younger Brit promptly replied:
"In spa, I didn't have my pizza so I was underweight and disqualified, in Zandvoort I had a lot of pizza and we were heavy and slow"
To which Hamilton said while laughing:
"Its true, seriously."
Russell too confirmed that it wasn't joking
"We're not even lying."
It was good to see the two Mercedes drivers in nice spirit ahead of the race, as Hamilton was downbeat after his qualifying session.
Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell analyze their qualifying in Monza
It was contrasting results for the Mercedes F1 team as George Russell qualified P3 behind the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri while Lewis Hamilton, who was just a few hundredths away from his teammate, qualified P6 behind the Ferraris.
Speaking with F1.com, Lewis Hamilton said of his qualifying:
"I am very disappointed with how today went. I think we could have been on the front-row, maybe even pole position. Unfortunately, I just didn’t do the job today. I lost one-tenth and a half through turns one and two, and then one more-tenth in the final corner. There is nobody else to blame but myself."
While George Russell was overjoyed with his P3 and said:
"P3 was a good result today. It was very tight out there between several teams so starting on the second row is not a bad place to be. It took me a little bit of time to get the most out of the car. To be just one-tenth off pole position is a little frustrating but overall, we can be happy with our Saturday."
Both Mercedes drivers will be targeting podium finishes in the main race as they look to bounce back from the disappointing Dutch GP weekend last weekend where they finished in P7 and P8, with Russell leading Hamilton.
