‘Mercedes got stuck in their way of thinking’: Peter Windsor baffled by bizarre Lewis Hamilton strategy call at the Dutch GP

‘Mercedes got stuck in their way of thinking’: Peter Windsor baffled by bizarre Lewis Hamilton strategy call at the Dutch GP

Lewis Hamilton

Zandvoort was a weekend that will hurt Lewis Hamilton. It looked at one stage as if Max Verstappen will have to overtake Hamilton for the lead of the Grand Prix, but one VSC and then another safety car later, he was left to fend off the wolves. It certainly did not work out for him.

Mercedes wanted to prioritise track position – when they had done that back in Abu Dhabi, it didn’t end well. It was a similar outcome this time around. On the restart, Max Verstappen immediately eased past Lewis Hamilton. Then, much like Charles Leclerc in Silverstone, Hamilton dropped down to P4, being overtaken by his teammate, George Russell and Leclerc.

https://youtu.be/0bgdpLuxnr4

The decision to stay with older medium tyres certainly cost Hamilton, and it would have cost Russell too if he hadn’t overridden that decision. As can be expected, Mercedes received a fair bit of criticism, not only from fans but from pundits themselves, including Nico Rosberg, as well as storied Formula 1 journalist, Peter Windsor.

FS Video

Also Read: ‘You would say they have learned from it,’ Jos Verstappen takes a cheeky dig at Mercedes after Max Verstappen demolishes opposition at Dutch GP

Peter Windsor feels Mercedes left Lewis Hamilton out to dry

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton was jumped at the safety car restart by Max Verstappen, and he was certainly not happy with how it happened.

Mercedes don’t seem to have learned from their mistake in Abu Dhabi, and nor from Ferrari’s own mistake this year. Both times, the win got away from the drivers. It’s unlikely that Hamilton was going to be as fast as Verstappen on the soft tyres in Zandvoort, but at least he would’ve had a fair chance with the others behind him.

The mediums were not working as well in Zandvoort while the hards did, in stark contrast to Hungary, just before the summer break. Leaving Hamilton out on older, slower tyres, and on a compound that wasn’t even working that well was certainly not a wise choice from the German team. In a YouTube video on his channel, Peter Windsor acknowledged as much.

Speaking of the situation, Windsor said: “Now, Lewis [Hamilton] a bit like the Abu Dhabi situation, a bit like Charles Leclerc at the British Grand Prix this year, is left out to dry, yet again.” According to the journalist, Mercedes’ plan seemed to be to keep both cars with track position with Russell to ‘protect’ Hamilton, but Russell pitting, and Hamilton not pitting, completely jeopardised that situation.

He further said that prioritizing track position in such a situation is not wise: “Track position when the race is in full flow is one thing. Track position when you’re bunched up behind the safety car is a completely different thing and it’s nothing like the same currency or value.” and added: “It looks to me as if Mercedes in their way got locked into their way of thinking track position, track position. We’ve got to stick to the strategy.”

Windsor applauded the call from Russell to override the team’s decision, but did not understand why Mercedes then did not choose to do the same with both drivers in the first place, calling it ‘bizarre’.

Also Read: “If you decide to take a risk, then do it properly,” Nico Rosberg blasts Mercedes for ruining Lewis Hamilton’s race at Zandvoort

Also Read: “It was worth taking the risk,” Toto Wolff defends Mercedes ‘extremely peculiar’ Dutch GP strategy