After qualifying second behind title rival Verstappen on Saturday, Hamilton took the lead at the United States Grand Prix on the first lap after overtaking the inside at Turn 1 after a quicker reaction from the line.
Hamilton stayed in the early stages before Verstappen, only that Red Bull pitted the Dutchman at the end of the 10th round, which was earlier than predicted.
Mercedes kept Hamilton out for three more laps before pitting him, but Verstappen had already gained enough time on the undercut to take the lead after Hamilton got back on track.
Mercedes tried to extend Hamilton’s second stint to create a larger tire delta, but the seven-time world champion failed to close the gap in the closing stages and ended up at the checkered flag, 1.3 seconds behind.
Wolff said Red Bull’s early pit stop was a bold move that his team failed to take appropriately after assessing his data.
“You could see the different strategies,” said Wolff.
“A team that put on the undercut out of necessity, and a very, how should I put it, brave move because it was very early. And the second time again to your advantage.
“You could see that especially in the last stint [Verstappen] had learned from the second stint not to damage the tires too early because he still had something left at the end.
“We were only on the way back because the car wasn’t fast enough in the middle class in the first stint.
“We couldn’t possibly have made an early stop because based on the data we had on the media, it didn’t look like we could end the race with an early stop at that point.”
Hamilton managed to create an eight-lap tire delta before the final stint and was up to a second per lap faster than Verstappen when he was gaining ground.
But Wolff said Mercedes didn’t consider keeping Hamilton out any longer to create a larger delta because its times had dropped too much.
“At a certain point you are just too slow and lose too much time,” said Wolff.
“That was the situation at the second stop where we didn’t have Sergio [Perez]’s pressure, but just had to pit because it was driving too slowly. There is always a balance between creating a misalignment and not losing too much ground. “
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Wolff praised Hamilton for driving “great” to make up for the time after Verstappen before the gap stabilized within a few seconds.
“He brought the car in, stayed calm, even though he was 6.5. would have [seconds after the first stop] and at the second stop 8.5 seconds to Max, ”said Wolff.
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“He brought it in, increased the pace, and at one point there was just a massive difference and that was done brilliantly. But just not close enough in the end.
“When you follow a car you start to suffer a bit, and I think if maybe we’d had two more laps, who knows?
“But it is what it is and you have to congratulate Red Bull on their stops.”
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