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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff feels the team was robbed of a chance to fight for the win at Zandvoort last Sunday because of an ill-timed VSC (virtual safey car).
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was leading the race and was due to make a pitstop soon when the VSC gave him a free pitstop, which allowed him to coast to a comfortable win.
Talking about the impact of VSC on proceedings, Wolff said that according to their simulation, Lewis Hamilton could have had a shot at a win. The Englishman eventually finished fourth.
"The simulation says that Max would have come out eight seconds behind us with 20 laps to go," said Wolff. "He would have probably pitted on the hard at the time, and, I think, we would have had a fair shot at the win. The race planner said the win is on. Tight, but on. It would have said about six laps from the end. It was very close."
Contrary to what the Mercedes boss said, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that Verstappen was saving his tyres and aiming to switch to soft ones for the last stint of the race.
According to Horner, the VSC was ill-timed for the Red Bull driver as well, as the team was not sure about the hard tyres. He said:
"Max was conserving tyres, so he wasn't killing the tyres and the tyres that came off his car were still in pretty decent shape. That gave us the confidence to go back onto the soft tyre. But the Virtual Safety Car couldn't have really come at a worse moment. That's at the point we had to convert."
Verstappen said that Mercedes were probably a bit quicker when he was on hard tyres, and the gap could have reduced after the VSC period. He said:
"I think the gap was still big enough to manage it to the end. But they would have definitely gotten a lot closer than I think the 11-and-a-half seconds it was at the time."
"We are the dustbin for the driver in the car" - Mercedes boss
Toto Wolff explained the dilemma Mercedes faced during the late-race safety car period.
Mercedes brought George Russell to the pits for fresher tyres - thinking they would have a better shot at victory - while race leader Hamilton stayed on his older tyres. Russell eventually overtook his compatriot to finish second, while Hamilton finished fourth.
Wolff said that although the gamble did not work, as Lewis Hamilton plummeted down the order, the team was always going to gamble for the win at Zandvoort. He said:
"With Lewis ahead, you can do two things: you can either pit him, lose track position against Verstappen and leave George out - screwed. You can pit both, but you are settling for P2 and P3 and we agreed as a team this morning to fight for the win, so it was worth the risk."
He added:
"I feel for Lewis; it's highly emotional, you are that close, bracing for the win and then you are being eaten up. It's clear that every emotion comes out, but as I always say, we are the dustbin for the driver in the car."
Hamilton ended two places behind George Russell who had pitted for soft tyres.
