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After being disqualified last week from the podium, Lewis Hamilton was back on the podium in Mexico. Red Bull's team principal believes Mercedes had a "stroke of luck".
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Mexican Grand Prix with a 13.8-second lead over Hamilton, followed by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
But Christian Horner believes that if the race hadn't been red-flagged after Kevin Magnussen's massive collision on lap 33 going into turn 10, things would've turned very differently.
Prior to the red flag, Mercedes decided to pit Hamilton on lap 25 to undercut Carlos Sainz. Ferrari pitted their cars shortly after Hamilton's stop, and the race was red-flagged.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes decided to change their tires for the re-start, which was an advantage for the team. Horner believes that had it not been for the red flag, Hamilton would've been beaten by Ferrari.
“They had a bit of a stroke of luck because they went in very early for a one-stop strategy, I think in the end they would have been beaten by the Ferraris," Horner said (via f1planet).
Mercedes gambled with mediums. Ferrari decided to stay on hard tires. Ferrari's choice to put both their cars on hard compound tires for the re-start surprised Horner. He said that Verstappen found it easy to race off into the distance unopposed due to that.
Lewis Hamilton has "total faith" in Mercedes after recent results
The seven-time world champion held off Charles Leclerc to take second place at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton has stated that he has gained confidence again after Mercedes's recent performance which was due to the recently upgraded new floor.
“I am incredibly proud of my team and I have total faith in the team. I know we can build a great car. We haven’t for the past two years. But we can build a great car," Hamilton said (via Sky).
Hamilton believes that the team is progressing and is positive that they will have a car to battle Red Bull next season.
