03 April 2023 , 15:33
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Lewis Hamilton looked baffled after the Australian Grand Prix with very few members of the Mercedes team there to greet him.
The Brit secured his best result of the season so far by finishing second in the race. It was an improvement of one place after qualifying third on the grid, on what proved to be a very encouraging weekend for the team.
But there was some confusion immediately following the race, after Hamilton had clambered out of his car and removed his helmet. Usually he would have been greeted by Mercedes staff who would no doubt have been delighted with the result, but not this time.
In a video captured by surfing star Kelly Slater, Hamilton looked slightly bemused to find very few people wearing Mercedes gear waiting for him. "Where is everybody? Where the f*** is my team?" he was heard asking, before being told they were in the garage.
Hamilton also came across slightly annoyed as he spoke to F1 TV, after collecting his trophy on the podium, having still not spotted anyone from Mercedes. Asked what the result meant after a tough start to 2023, he replied: "I don't know what it means to the team, because I haven't seen anybody if I'm honest.
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"But for me, this is an incredible result for us. We came here thinking – the car was the same – so we were thinking it's going to struggle for a few races until we can find some sort of upgrade to bring later on down the line, and that could be five races away.
"But for us to qualify on the front two rows and then be in the mix, both racing for first and second, oh my god it was really super exciting and really unfortunate for George, because he was doing such a great job."
Hamilton was referring to team-mate George Russell, who had qualified in second ahead of him and led the race in the early stages having got the better of Max Verstappen at the first corner.
However, rotten luck would see Russell drop to seventh place when a red flag came out just after he had pitted for new tyres, and his race was ended once and for all mid-way through when his power unit failed and flames began to pour out the back of his car.