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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff claims Lewis Hamilton was unlucky with the safety car and was, thus, put in a difficult position with his strategy in the Miami GP. While the seven-time world champion was disappointed with the race outcome on Sunday, Wolff feels that it was just an unlucky scenario which was inevitable.
Explaining Hamilton’s situation during the Miami GP, Wolff said:
“I think he was between a rock and a hard place because the safety car clearly came out in a situation that wasn’t favourable for him and was favourable for George in the back. George had a window with no one behind him. He was able to switch on a practically new medium and Lewis had to decide ‘Do I keep the position on a hard or do I go on a soft? That would have also been tricky so that was probably a 50-50 decision and in the end, it didn’t work out for him. It is not the first time this season that he has been unlucky with the safety car.”
George Russell had changed his tires during a virtual safety car earlier and when the safety car was later deployed, Lewis Hamilton was in a tough spot due to his much older hard tires; however, his team chose to keep him out in order to not lose position.
As a result of this strategy, the British champion lost a position to his own teammate later in the race. His initial reaction in the TV media pen after the race was that it was a good result for the team and a good recovery from P13 in Imola. That being said, he did not seem to happy with the strategy calls the team had made earlier that day.
Describing the scenario to print media later, Lewis Hamilton said:
“In that scenario I have no clue where everyone is, so when the team say it’s your choice I don’t have the information to make the decision. That’s what your job is, make the decision for me – you’ve got all the details, I don’t. That’s what you rely on the guys for but today they gave it to me and I don’t understand it, but anyways.”
Toto Wolff believes the swap between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell did not require dialogue with the FIA
While the two Mercedes drivers raced each other for positons, George Russell overtook Lewis Hamilton off-track. The FIA then intervened and asked them to swap positions, hence, the 24-year-old had to give the place back to Hamilton and overtake him later in the race.
On being asked whether the Mercedes chief had had a dialog with race control prior to the swap, Wolff said:
“There was no dialogue with the FIA and I think that is how it should be. It is the FIA coming back to us and saying, ‘They need to change position’.”
The Mercedes team principal believes the swap was correct and justified. Wolff revealed that he did not have to have any conversation with the FIA prior to the swap and instead the FIA had stepped in themselves.
