It looked like yet another easy win for Max Verstappen as the Dutchman easily controlled the Mexican Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton had a good race but lost out on the hard tyre in second stint. Home hero Sergio Perez finished third after failing to find a way past the Mercedes.
That they did not give Russell the yellow - red strategy is very hard to understand.
I'm sure they realized they screwed up with Hamilton and then felt the need to avoid giving Russell a strat advantage to beat Hamilton. Had they gone with Russell's plan, they might have had two cars on the podium, but it would have been in an uncomfortable order....with a fall out similar to Zandvoort.
Mercedes appears to have taken Hamilton fans more seriously than team's own objective of getting a race win. A strong result for either driver could take the team in the right direction. It's no secret that George is making better calls from the car than Mercedes pit wall, like Carlos. Who in the right mind would have gone with same tyre choices for both the drivers at the start when they are 2 and 3 and repeating it for second stint. George did a good job of taking mediums that long and deserved a different strategy to Lewis. But it seems the only objective of Mercedes is to please Lewis. Very poor work. I was laughing when Bono kept telling Lewis that hards is the tyre choice and were waiting for Mediums on Max to drop off as if they haven't seen RB18 and Max's prowess to make tyres last.
Georges call was rubbish. He was dead in the water after dropping back so far.
So his call to swap to ricciardo's strategy was rubbish? How?
Norris had same pace as Bottas on the hard tyre, so the Alfa Romeo and McLaren were roughly matched on race pace.
After pitting, Ricciardo gained over 30 seconds to Bottas on the soft tyre to Bottas' old hards after losing relatively little time on his old mediums to Bottas' new hards (due to the low deg). Bottas was not even coasting because he was fighting for last point position. That is with Daniel also overtaking many cars along the way
Seems like russell's strategy call of medium-soft would've allowed him to potentially overtake Perez and Hamilton due to a large tyre delta, and if not then still finish P4
Sometimes when you're "dead in the water" that's when you can pull off these bold strategies, because you have nothing to lose. They said no to Russell because they didn't want another Zandvoort situation in my opinion
Likely, but that is wrong reasoning. Hamilton had to answer the Checo undercut, and, being that early in the race, white tires were the only option (having started on yellow) so, they haven’t made a mistake there, it was simply how the race panned out. They could have switched Russell to reds, he ran the longest of the 4 front runners. Even if he would have caught Hamilton, unlikely, there was no wrong doing and with a lucky SC, who knows.
So his call to swap to ricciardo's strategy was rubbish? How?
Norris had same pace as Bottas on the hard tyre, so the Alfa Romeo and McLaren were roughly matched on race pace.
After pitting, Ricciardo gained over 30 seconds to Bottas on the soft tyre to Bottas' old hards after losing relatively little time on his old mediums to Bottas' new hards (due to the low deg). Bottas was not even coasting because he was fighting for last point position. That is with Daniel also overtaking many cars along the way
Seems like russell's strategy call of medium-soft would've allowed him to potentially overtake Perez and Hamilton due to a large tyre delta, and if not then still finish P4
Sometimes when you're "dead in the water" that's when you can pull off these bold strategies, because you have nothing to lose. They said no to Russell because they didn't want another Zandvoort situation in my opinion
He wasn't showing the pace at the time to the leaders and Max and Sergio's pace wasn't dropping off. If he was in Lewis position I could see it helping a bit, but I still think RedBull and Max were not beatable that day.
Very hard. Because Max took pole, and because he could protect that pole on his red tires he had track position, at cost of stint length but going in first also means protected from the undercut. I had zero doubt Max could finish that run on yellow with good pace.
The biggest danger was a SC after he pitted and before Lewis would pit. But that window wasn’t long as Sergio was pushing.
So his call to swap to ricciardo's strategy was rubbish? How?
Norris had same pace as Bottas on the hard tyre, so the Alfa Romeo and McLaren were roughly matched on race pace.
After pitting, Ricciardo gained over 30 seconds to Bottas on the soft tyre to Bottas' old hards after losing relatively little time on his old mediums to Bottas' new hards (due to the low deg). Bottas was not even coasting because he was fighting for last point position. That is with Daniel also overtaking many cars along the way
Seems like russell's strategy call of medium-soft would've allowed him to potentially overtake Perez and Hamilton due to a large tyre delta, and if not then still finish P4
Sometimes when you're "dead in the water" that's when you can pull off these bold strategies, because you have nothing to lose. They said no to Russell because they didn't want another Zandvoort situation in my opinion
He wasn't showing the pace at the time to the leaders and Max and Sergio's pace wasn't dropping off. If he was in Lewis position I could see it helping a bit, but I still think RedBull and Max were not beatable that day.
I would stick to the fact that Mercedes didn't want to risk offending Lewis and hence they didn't choose to experiment with alternate strategies. They had nothing to lose and yet, they were not willing to try. They could have started George on softs. He could have passed Max at the start with Softs and slipstream. George was going at the same pace throughout his first stint that Max and Lewis were doing. Mercedes has wrong people sitting in the strategy room and Toto's close affiliation with Lewis is hurting strategists. If that continues, I would see George getting frustrated and leave. Lewis alone can't beat Max, definitely not at the current level that he is operating with and with such a car. If Mercedes doesn't show enough bone, they are out there to eat humble pie.
Toto's close affiliation with Lewis is hurting strategists. If that continues, I would see George getting frustrated and leave. Lewis alone can't beat Max, definitely not at the current level that he is operating with and with such a car. If Mercedes doesn't show enough bone, they are out there to eat humble pie.
Really don't understand the drama around Merc strategy.
1/ Russell was slower than Hamilton on both stint, and apart at the very end of the first stint he was not closing on Perez. Even if he kept the 2nd place at the start Russell would've been overtaken by Hamilton, and Perez. The only moment were he was a bit faster than Lewis was the end of the first stint
2/ There's no delta of performance you can create on the RB18. Max' average lap time on the second stint was ~1.22.3/4. Even on soft tyres Russell and Hamilton would never 2 second a lap faster, it's not Spain 2021 this RB18 in the habd of Max doesn't eat the tyre. Leclerc and Ferrari made the same call in Monza, but with an extrastop, the delta was just not enough and Verstappen was averaging same lap times the whole stint.
3/ Regarding Perez, his pace was less impressive, nevertheless Merc were smart to not letting him take Hamilton's track position, even with "worse" tyres. I don't think any of the Merc could've pulled a move on Perez, with his top speed and performance in sector 3, especially at his home race.
Russell was never gonna win, like every race since Canada/Miami he has shown way less race pace than Hamilton
Max's stint line in analysis will be horizontal. Ridiculously consistent especially considering the amount of traffic he passed
The car is so unbetable even in tyre management. Max could drive from Mexico to Brazil, start the race on those mediums and win the damn thing too!
Thing is, he ‘only’ had to match Lewis’ pace on the hards to stay ahead (as opposed to pushing the tyres hard).
Very disappointed that AMG didn’t split the strategy & let George keep going on the mediums and then swapping onto softs. Max would have been forced to push much harder. Could have been a 1-3 for AMG.
That such a possibility was not “on their radar” shows a lack of strategic strength (forgivable considering the advantages that they previously had).
Perspective - Understanding that sometimes the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
So his call to swap to ricciardo's strategy was rubbish? How?
Norris had same pace as Bottas on the hard tyre, so the Alfa Romeo and McLaren were roughly matched on race pace.
After pitting, Ricciardo gained over 30 seconds to Bottas on the soft tyre to Bottas' old hards after losing relatively little time on his old mediums to Bottas' new hards (due to the low deg). Bottas was not even coasting because he was fighting for last point position. That is with Daniel also overtaking many cars along the way
Seems like russell's strategy call of medium-soft would've allowed him to potentially overtake Perez and Hamilton due to a large tyre delta, and if not then still finish P4
Sometimes when you're "dead in the water" that's when you can pull off these bold strategies, because you have nothing to lose. They said no to Russell because they didn't want another Zandvoort situation in my opinion
He wasn't showing the pace at the time to the leaders and Max and Sergio's pace wasn't dropping off. If he was in Lewis position I could see it helping a bit, but I still think RedBull and Max were not beatable that day.
I would stick to the fact that Mercedes didn't want to risk offending Lewis and hence they didn't choose to experiment with alternate strategies. They had nothing to lose and yet, they were not willing to try. They could have started George on softs. He could have passed Max at the start with Softs and slipstream. George was going at the same pace throughout his first stint that Max and Lewis were doing. Mercedes has wrong people sitting in the strategy room and Toto's close affiliation with Lewis is hurting strategists. If that continues, I would see George getting frustrated and leave. Lewis alone can't beat Max, definitely not at the current level that he is operating with and with such a car. If Mercedes doesn't show enough bone, they are out there to eat humble pie.
Tinfoil much? Nah. Lewis actually requested starting on softs and was denied. There is no favouritsm as you are claiming.
That such a possibility was not “on their radar” shows a lack of strategic strength (forgivable considering the advantages that they previously had).
I respectfully disagree. It was a conservative strategy, and even if Merc wouldn't mind winning, I think the strategy is to keep themselves in the mix for second place in the constructors championship.
But sure, they missed a trick by not pitting Russel for softs during VSC, but I guess they didn't want to give Perez to much slack.
Possibly they were considering what may happen if Russell caught Hamilton near the end?
Russell on soft Hamilton on very used hard could mean a divebomb and two DNF, and animosity. As the season is closing and not much at stake, keeping people on side may be just as important as a couple of points.
When arguing with a fool, be sure the other person is not doing the same thing.
Shovlin continued in a press release from his team: "If we were to do the race again, we would have started with the soft tyre. We knew a one-stop change from soft to medium was possible, but we didn't expect it to be so comfortable." Mercedes' strategists assumed that the medium tyres (at Red Bull) would lose grip faster.
Interesting, wasn’t it Toto that said that strategy wasn’t even on the radar?
