Hamilton looked to be on course for his 105th Formula 1 victory on merit at Spa on Sunday having led for much of the race.
Lewis Hamilton: I should be able to lean on him fully
But as Hamilton pitted for his second stop of the afternoon, on the other side of the garage Russell and his strategist spoke of a “one-stop” strategy.
That gave Russell track position into the closing laps where even though Hamilton was on fresher tyres and within DRS range, he wasn’t able to launch an attack on his team-mate.
Russell crossed the line half a second ahead of Hamilton but was later stripped of the victory due to a technical infringement when his W15 was found to be 1.5kgs underweight with Hamilton inheriting the victory.
The seven-time World Champion though, was not happy that his strategist hadn’t told him about Russell’s one-stop call.
“I told him that the tyres were fine and they called me in.
“Did I know that I was at risk of getting one-stopped by my team-mate? They didn’t tell me that.
“But congrats to George, it’s great to go into the break with such performance. We all feel a bit lighter going in and hopefully come back stronger in the second half.”
