F1 champion praises Hamilton: 'Before, he would have been disappointed'

For Lewis Hamilton, the Mexican Grand Prix did not mark his first podium of the 2023 Formula 1 season, but the Mercedes driver was not all that happy with second place for a long time. A commendable attitude, believes former F1 driver and teammate Jenson Button.

After a disappointing disqualification in the US GP, where Hamilton also crossed the finish line second behind Max Verstappen, the 38-year-old Brit also drove to second place in Mexico City. In doing so, he reduced his gap to Sergio Perez in the championship to just 20 points.

Hamilton celebrated his second place as a victory and was therefore overjoyed with the result, especially as Mercedes had finally taken a real step in the right direction. "It’s great to see Lewis so upbeat," Button told Sky Sports. "He got out of the car, and jumped to his mechanics."

"Lewis finishing second used to be a thing where he was disappointed. He can see progress, especially after last weekend’s disqualification. This is a big deal to him, also to keep those tyres working until the end of the race," the 2009 world champion continued.

For teammate George Russell, there was no podium finish in sight: he had to settle for sixth behind Lando Norris. "It’s tricky. Your teammate is second and you’re sixth. It’s tough, it really is."