F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain - Final PracticeGeorge Russell of Great Britain and Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes walk in the Paddock

Mercedes driver George Russell was not too impressed with his teammate Lewis Hamilton after the former claimed that his first lap in the Q3 session was affected by his experienced compatriot. The British duo could not be separated on the track as they finished P3 and P4 with Hamilton leading Russell in the Spanish GP qualifying session on Saturday.

The 26-year-old looked the faster of the two Mercedes drivers heading into the final phase of the qualifying but the seven-time world champion set a time that was just milliseconds ahead of Russell.

However, after setting their first timed laps, George Russell, on his team radio, complained about Lewis Hamilton’s actions during the preparation lap and claimed that it hindered his progress. Russell said:

“What the f*** was Lewis doing prepping that lap?”

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Russell’s engineer was quick to reply and mentioned that they would further discuss the situation after the session:

“It’s fine. We’ll talk about it after. Head in the game.”

Lewis Hamilton analyzes his P3 in the Spanish GP qualifying session

Lewis Hamilton stated that he did not believe that they were ever in contention for pole position at the Spanish GP qualifying session on Saturday.

In his post-quali interview with F1TV, the Mercedes driver pointed out that he was ‘really happy’ with the result and said:

“I am really happy. I am super grateful to be in the top three. It has been quite a difficult year, there has been hard work from everyone back in the factory, and we are starting to see those incremental steps. I didn’t expect to be in for pole necessarily but every now and then there looked to be bits that had us close.”

The 39-year-old added that he was grateful to the Brackley-based team for making improvements to the W15 within the season:

“We have made huge steps forward and it is really down to every single individual back at the factory who is working on design, pushing in making the new parts we get to bring to these races.”

“Slowly the car is crafting into a racing machine with which we can hopefully fight the guys in front. George did a great job as well so hopefully tomorrow we can apply the pressure on the guys in front.”