Mercedes justify F1 Japanese GP strategy after Lewis Hamilton radio query
Mercedes explain the tyre strategies after a bad day for Leไwis Hamilton and George Russel💯l
Merced꧒es have justified their strategy call at the F1 Japanese Grand Pr✱ix.
The tyre strategy failed to pay off, with 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton finishing ninth and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell seventh.
The first-lap crash for Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon presented an opportunity for every team to find an advantage with the♍ strategy at Suzuka.
Mercedes switched their drivers to hard compounds after t✱he restart which resulted in Hamilton asking to “change the strategy” via team radio.
Hamilton’s lꦓack of pace even saw him allow teammate Russell to pass him.
Mercedes changed their drivers to another set of ꧅hards, then switched to mediums🎃 at the end.
A Mercedes spokesman explained their decision-making afterwards: “Withꦇ our tyre allocation (2 Hard, 1 Medium), we were able to give ourselves the possibility of looking at either a one or a two stop after the red flag.
“Hence the Hard tyre restart.
“Ultimately, as the race progressed, the tyre degra♐dation showed that the two-stop was ဣgoing to be the quickest way to the flag.
“Our second and third stints showed solid pace compared to those around us, including the Mc♔Larens and the Ferraris.
“We knew that Suzuka would not be our strongest track though and, with time lost being overtaken on the offset str🍌ategy (one of the downsides of this strategy), we couldn’t make it back to P6 which was likely the maximum tod🌌ay.”
Ferrari, notably, had gr🅰eater success by committing early to a two-stop strategy.
Carlos Sainz finishe✃d third, and Charles Leclerc fourth.
Red Bull secured a 1-2 finish (their third in four grands prix this yea💙r) with Max Verstappen beating Sergio Perez.
Verstappen told Sainz afterwards in the cooldown room that c🥀ommitting to a two𒐪-stop strategy was optimal for Red Bull.
Mercedes, however, were left scratching their heads after a disappointingܫ display in Japan.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everythiꦗng from American sports, to football, to F1.
