Lewis Hamilton believes that an 'often wrong' setup decision by George Russell paid off for his teammate at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Starting the race in P7, the Mercedes driver elected to start the race on the Hard compound tyres, in a bid to try an alternate strategy and recover lost ground the leaders. The Briton made a pit stop under the Safety Car period to rise to fifth place, but was unable to progress any further and challenge teammate Russell, who finished in P4 prior to his promotion due to an Alonso penalty. Speaking after the race, Hamilton was buoyed by being able to progress into the higher points positions, and believed that he had been battling with an 'off' setup. "Yeah we got some great points as a team. George got third, which is amazing. I went forwards, which is always the hope, is that you at least go forwards. One foot in front of the other. So, I’m really grateful to have come from seventh to fifth," Hamilton told Sky after the race. "The strategy just didn’t really work out for me. The setup was a bit off. I think if I had the setup George had, I would have been in a better position. There are lots to work on, but there are positives to take away.”
Hamilton: Russell's setup 'usually the wrong one'
When asked about how much input the drivers have with strategy calls and setting up the car, Hamilton responded: “We work on that. There was like a 50/50 choice. I chose one way, he chose another. "More often than not, where he went is the wrong one, but it just happened to work. "So, I could only match his pace rather than be quicker this weekend, but I'll work hard to make sure that we're in a better place."
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