Manoah2u wrote:Is it the result of pushing too much? who knows, it must be said that surprisingly, Mercedes was under a lot more pressure this time from RB then i ever imagined. They might have gambled too high in fending off RB. perhaps, very much perhaps, if they kept to their own game, then lewis car would have remained intact and he would have either won this race or in worst case scenario he ended up 2nd.
The problem is, is that RedBull were very cunning and split their strategies. They do as a team what Mercedes themselves wouldn't. Where Mercedes attempts to create equality between its drivers, RedBull was willing to sacrifice Ricciardo's race by putting Max on an alternate strategy that nearly worked. When the virtual safety car came out, they effectively moved up Max by at least 7 seconds (the 7+ seconds he saved by pitting under the VSC). This gave him theoretical track position, as it meant that the planned "1 stoppers" (being Hamilton and Ricciardo ahead) needed to extend a gap they couldn't because Max behind was on fresher tires and quicker.
Mercedes (and RedBull) along the way probably realized that a 1-stop was too ambitious and that 1-stop became a 2 stop, but offset vs. Max. That would mean Max had gained the time saved during his stop under VSC. This would have at least put Max in front of Dan eventually. Hamilton meanwhile had the pace to pull out a gap and the plan was to eek out as much of that as possible to be able to pit him and come out either in front of Max (who's tires will be nearing the end of its life towards the end of the race) or slightly behind and then overtake for the win. That of course didn't work out, given Hamiltons engine blew and that created again another VSC period that prompted RedBull to pit both cars again, giving it a fair battle for both Dan and Max to the end.
As for what strain Hamilton put his engine under; While he was clearly racing hard, I can't believe he was racing harder than Rosberg who had ground to make up and was more often than not racing in dirty/warmer air vs. Hamilton at the front in clean undisturbed air. He just seemed to be unlucky.
One thing I do question though; the 3 engines Hamilton took in Belgium; Were they not of a newer spec than the engines he raced before throughout the season? If I recall correctly, Mercedes used some tokens during the summer break for new the engine in Spa. Fair to say, both Rosberg and Hamilton have been each racing that engine spec without problems in Spa at least. So I conclude that he was just unlucky.
