Mercedes has admitted they got the Hungarian Grand Prix restart wrong – by not sending Lewis Hamilton on slick tires.
After the race was stopped after a close combat initiated by Valtteri Bottas in the first corner on a damp track, the Hungaroring was badly dried out when it started again.
Like all the other remaining runners, Hamilton, who was in the lead, went into the warm-up lap on intermediate tires. But while he was starting the grid, everyone else pitted to switch to slicks.
The seven-time world champion started all by himself and when the mistake was recognized and he pitted at the end of the next lap, he was at the very back of the field.
Unable to work their way into the position for the remainder of the race to challenge leading duo Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton finished third on the road – but that could end up second if Aston Martin fail in their appeal against the Germans Disqualification for a fuel violation.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said after the race that it was “absolutely right” for Hamilton not to pit at the end of the introductory lap – but team engineering director Andrew Shovlin admitted that he had made a mistake beforehand.
“As we were leaving the pit lane at that point we were talking about whether we should ride on slicks because we could see it was drying out and that’s really the decision we made wrong,” said Shovlin, quoted by GP fans .
“However, given the situation in the race there and with our competitors, the mindset was not to make a mistake by slipping or getting involved in an accident, so we decided to be careful and go to the Inters.
“It was very surprising to see the entire field at the Inters and even more surprising that the entire field broke up behind us.
“But if you are the first repair shop, you have the disadvantage that as you pull in and stop you will be followed by a train of cars that have all the boxes further down the pit lane, and then you have to try and” find a gap in that you can start. “
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When all the other cars pitted there was a collision between Kimi Raikkonen and Nikita Mazepin which ended the Haas driver’s race and Shovlin added, “You have seen incidents where people collided in the pit lane.
“When you look at that and you know that Lewis was never able to build a five-second gap on a warm-up lap because everyone tries to band together and get in, we think that in P6 we would have been on the road at best, in the worst case. ”P10.
“But it would still have been chaotic or risky, which is why we come back to the actual mistake that we should have rolled out of the pit lane on dry tires like everyone else, because then you don’t have to stop.”
With Bottas, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc out of the race on the first lap and Max Verstappen severely compromised with a damaged car, it seemed like an ideal chance for Hamilton to take a comfortable win and gain his World Championship lead maximize.
“It was unfortunate and we had a slight chance of winning the race we didn’t win,” admitted Shovlin.
“But we all agreed that we did it wrong together, so no one will be held responsible. It’s one of those lessons you learn from and in this industry you try not to make the same mistake twice. “
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