Lewis Hamilton wasn’t happy with how he and Mercedes performed after the Italian Grand Prix.
After the Monza race, which Charles Leclerc won for Ferrari, Hamilton thought he could have done just as well.
Mercedes explain Hamilton’s strategy
Ferrari and Leclerc surprised everyone by making one less pit stop than other top teams. This worked out great, and Leclerc finished first. Hamilton felt disappointed with his performance, believing he could have at least beaten Carlos Sainz.
“The first stint was tough with everyone on medium tires,” said Andrew Shovlin. “In the second stint, we wondered if the tires would last or if we needed to change. Lewis was behind Carlos, and it didn’t matter if we did one or two stops because Carlos had fresher tires. Passing him on the same strategy was unlikely.”
‘Russell could have finished ahead of Verstappen’
George Russell messed up his third-place start by going straight at Turn 1 and had to replace his front wing, losing many positions. He managed to finish in P7 after catching up, but Shovlin believes more was possible.
“In hindsight, we should have done something different with George,” Shovlin explained. “He was racing both Red Bulls on a different strategy. They did hard-hard and were on a two-stop plan. When we saw George’s old tires during the final stint change, they still had a lot of rubber left. We think he could have finished without another stop. Yes, he passed Sergio anyway on the two-stop plan, but we’re sure he would have finished ahead of Max if he had done just one stop.”
Fans might think this news is quite surprising.
What do you think? Did Mercedes make the right calls?
