F1 NEWS: LEWIS HAMILTON PICKS HIS IDEAL MERCEDES REPLACEMENT AS MAX VERSTAPPEN HITS BACK

has launched an incendiary blow at ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. The Mercedes junior suggested Hamilton's claims around strategy in Saudi Arabia were wrong as he defended his own decision-making.

Hamilton said Russell had got lucky with making the right strategy call in Jeddah. However, the former Williams driver shot down the allegations on Thursday with the 25-year-old stressing that he knew he would be right.

Meanwhile, tensions are rising at Red Bull with understood to be unhappy ahead of the weekend after being plagued with reliability issues. A drive shaft issue in qualifying cost him a chance to fight for victory last time out leaving Perez just one point behind in the standings.

2023-03-30T06:59:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd