"Lewis Hamilton wasn't in a chatty mood" - 2x race winner recalls awkward moment in the cooldown room with Mercedes driver

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri said this week that Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton wasn't in a "chatty mood" in the cooldown room at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion drove a faultless race at Spa Francorchamps in July starting from P3.

Hamilton immediately gained a place off the start, overtaking Red Bull driver Sergio Perez heading into Turn 1, and solidified his position after the first sector. Soon after, the 39-year-old capitalized on the slipstream effect to overtake Charles Leclerc and took the lead.

Hamilton looked to be in control of the race and was heading towards his second win in three races, but his teammate George Russell's one-stop strategy got him out in front. Despite being on fresh tires, Hamilton could not make the move and finished second.

McLaren driver Piastri, who finished behind the Mercedes duo to round off the podium, told Cosmopolitan UK that the cooldown room after the race was the most "awkward moment" for him. The two-time race winner said,

“The most awkward cooldown room.....I mean, I’ve not been in that many, but the most awkward one was after Spa, where George [Russell] won and Lewis [Hamilton] finished second. I finished third on the road, and then, of course, George got disqualified. It was tense.

“Lewis drove a great race, in a lot of circumstances, he should have won that race pretty comfortably, so I understood exactly how he was feeling at that point. I could very much sense that Lewis did not want to be… he wasn’t in a chatty mood, so I just watched and looked at the highlights in silence and kept to myself!”

Lewis Hamilton was declared the winner of the Belgian GP after George Russell was disqualified post-race for having a lighter car than allowed under the regulations.

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When Lewis Hamilton analyzed his race win at Spa

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was circumspect after inheriting the race win at the Belgian GP in July this year and said he was able to maintain position despite having similar performance to cars around him.

Speaking in the post-race press conference, the seven-time world champion said,

"The car was feeling good, and we had a much better pace than we expected. There were several cars that seemed similar in terms of performance but once we had got ahead, we were able to maintain that position. We committed to the two-stop strategy and covered those directly behind us.

"George was able to make the one-stop work and, although I got close to him in the final few laps, I was unable to get past in the dirty air. I feel for George, and you don’t want to win a race through a disqualification, but we have been back in the fight for victories in the past few races."

With two wins in the season, Lewis Hamilton is part of a select group of four drivers who have won multiple races this year.