Lewis Hamilton complained about Mercedes' strategy before being awarded victory in the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday after George Russell was disqualified.
It looked as though it would be a positive day for the Silver Arrows. However, with Russell eventually disqualified, it denied the team a one-two finish.
Hamilton was full of praise for his team-mate in the immediate aftermath of the race.
But the veteran was also unhappy with the strategy of the team, insisting Russell 'wouldn't have been in my race' if they'd got things right.
Lewis Hamilton has complained about Mercedes' strategy after finishing second to George Russell during Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix
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"Firstly, congrats to the team, congrats to George. This will be a huge plus for everyone back at the factory," he said.
"We didn’t expect this weekend to be where we are, especially after Friday, when we were a second off. Amazing work overnight on Friday night, and to get a one-two going into the summer break is pretty spectacular.
"I wasn’t expecting us to be as strong as we were. It felt great to get in the lead.
"It was a bit of a shock at the end but we’ll take that in house and move forward. And we can all go away with our heads held high into the summer break and hopefully come back stronger into the second half.
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"George wasn’t really in my race for most of it.
"And so if the strategy had been right, he wouldn’t have been in my race.
"So we wouldn’t have been having that but it’s great that at the end we do have cars that are competing.
"It is what it is. I’ll move forward. I’ll go into my break and have a good time."
Mercedes chief Toto Wolff hailed the team for the result before learning of Russell's disqualification.
And he's hopeful the Silver Arrows can finish third in the constructors' championship, with the Austrian saying: "On Friday we were really not as competitive, so we were expecting a best case podium.
"Then the team worked really well overnight at Brackley and the engineering team here took the right decision and the car was good on one stop and good on two stops.
"I’d like to have two winners today but we had to cover Leclerc and Norris, because we would have been undercut, and that was the call.
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Lewis Hamilton has congratulated George Russell after his team-mate won the Belgian Grand Prix
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"George had nothing to lose. We were P5, the one-stop and the two-stop were showing P5, so we kept him out."
He added: "He [Russell] was very good all of today but then when you look at the pace, Lewis was very good today.
"So I think they both did a fabulous job. The strategy played for George and not for Lewis, and as I said, I’d like to have two winners today.
Lewis Hamilton was clearly frustrated after George Russell won the Belgian Grand Prix
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"Unfortunately, the season started in March and not in Austria.
"We just need to keep both feet on the ground and try to do the best every race and then we’re going to see what the outcome at the end of the championship is.
"If we finish third, that would be a success."
