At the Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton expressed dissatisfaction with Mercedes’ tire and pit strategy, and team manager Toto Wolff acknowledged that the British driver was let down by the team.
Lewis Hamilton has given Mercedes an explanation for his irritated “I told you guys” remark from the opening laps of the Monaco Grand Prix.
After the race was red-flagged on the first lap, he told his race engineer Peter Bonnington over the radio. With the retirement of Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, and Sergio Perez from the Grand Prix, everyone seized the chance to swap tires for free.
The majority of the field had begun running on medium tires. In order to meet the requirement of using two different compounds during the race and finish on the most durable set of rubber available, they could switch to the hards.
Hamilton, though, was one of the few racers who had started using the hard tire. Due to the necessity of switching to the mediums during the stoppage, the seven-time Formula One champion was obviously worried that his strategy had put him at a disadvantage.
Ultimately, the race proceeded at such a slow pace that even the medium tires managed to finish. George Russell, Hamilton’s teammate, demonstrated that it was feasible by coming in fifth after completing more than 70 laps on the mediums without losing position to Max Verstappen in the rear.
When Hamilton made that radio remark to Mercedes, he had no idea that would be feasible. In his post-match statement, the 39-year-old explained that he felt he was going to be penalized because the team had overruled him regarding tire strategy.
“Well, whichever tire you were on, I think it was going to be long either way, but I wanted to start on the [medium],” he remarked. I had a feeling that something would happen early in the race, and usually that would present a chance to move to the hards and continue on until the finish.
“But in the end, I believe it didn’t matter because everyone drove so slowly.” Hamilton was further irritated with the team later in the race when they neglected to inform him that Verstappen had pitted ahead of him and that he needed to push hard to undercut the Dutchman. Manager Toto Wolff acknowledged that his staff made a mistake.
“That was a misunderstanding between us on the pit wall at first,” he stated. We made a mistake there; instead of trying to undercut, it should have been a “out-lap critical.” The message he received was, at best, unclear, but most likely incorrect, since there was a discussion about whether or not an out-lap on the new tire would be sufficient.
It was supposed to be a “out-lap critical.” The nagging concern was what would happen if we stretched the tire in a single lap. Overall though, Lewis received the incorrect message, and this is a team sport.”
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