Lewis Hamilton has backed "phenomenal" George Russell to bounce back following his late crash in the Singapore Grand Prix that cost Russell a podium. The two Mercedes pitted for a second time under a brief Virtual Safety Car to fit their extra set of new Medium tyres, and began to carve chunks of time out of Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, who was swiftly passed. However, Norris could not be passed, with Russell sliding off on the final lap after clipping the wall at the Turn 10 entry, handing Hamilton the podium. Russell's only podium remains at the Spanish GP in 2023, but was the stronger of the two Mercedes drivers across the weekend - and Hamilton has no doubt his team-mate will be back.
Hamilton backs Russell
"Firstly congratulations to Carlos and Lando, they did a great job today," Hamilton explained after his 196th podium. "We rolled the dice this weekend, we went with a different amount of tyres into qualifying with the option to be able to do what we did today, I felt like it was a two-stop. "The team did an amazing job to really get us back up there, it's a bit of a shame at the first corner, but I got my head down and kept pushing. "It was extremely unfortunate for George, we're pushing so hard to catch these guys and our tyres were so hot, but I am sure he will bounce back. He's been phenomenal all weekend."
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