After leaving Red Bull behind in practice, Mercedes turned the tables by eliminating in the front row in qualifying when Bottas chased Hamilton onto pole.
But Verstappen managed to take the lead from third place on the grid after a late braking maneuver in Turn 1 and gain an advantage that he converted into a dominant race win to extend his points lead over Hamilton in the fight for the title.
Hamilton noted after the race that Bottas had “left the door open” so that Verstappen could drive around on the outside, while the Dutchman admitted that his overtaking was “really on the verge”.
In Mercedes’ post-race debriefing, Motorsport Strategy Director James Vowles explained how the fastest Turn 1 approach of the year in Mexico made it important to plan a strategy.
Mercedes had intended that Bottas should use his starting position advantage to help Hamilton protect him from Verstappen.
“The strategy and approach to Turn 1 was pretty straightforward here,” explained Vowles. “For Valtteri, if he got off to a good start, he would leave Lewis behind and make sure he covered the threat from Verstappen.
“The starts, it turned out, were that Valtteri had a slightly worse start than both Verstappen and Lewis – not much, about four meters or so, but it was enough that Lewis was unable to line up.
“What’s more, Verstappen’s good start meant that he was at Valtteri’s side very, very quickly. The result is that they reached the field of three incredibly quickly and early on the descent in Turn 1. “
With the three wide cars, Verstappen was able to enter the ideal ideal line at Turn 1, so that both Bottas and Hamilton had to struggle with less grip. But Vowles felt that Verstappen’s line wasn’t enough to have made such a big difference in braking.
“Even so, the differences in braking should have been a few meters, maybe not the difference you saw,” said Vowles.
“Ultimately, the drivers braked where they thought they should. If you’ve seen Verstappen’s comments afterward, it’s pretty clear he went in there hoping for the best and it worked out for him.
“We ended up losing out there, and even more so when we went in when you saw that other cars might be blocked – [Daniel] Ricciardo is one of them [then] Contact happened and Valtteri was taken out and pushed to the bottom of the grid. “
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
Vowles said Red Bull had “a much better car” than Mercedes in the race, but felt there could have been more strategic options if the team had kept their advantage with both cars.
“If we had got away and finished first and second, I think we would have had a good chance of defending the whole race against the Red Bulls,” said Vowles.
“Conversely, if we were first, but both Red Bulls were behind us in second and third, it would have been very difficult, in my opinion, to keep the lead. They could have stopped a car too early, a car too late and ultimately we would have been a compromise with these two cars.
“Second place with Lewis was unfortunately right because of the performance after the start, and I’m glad we stuck to it.
“It was a defensive strategy that we used throughout the race. In Valtteri’s case, of course, he walked away with much less than he deserved. If he hadn’t been hit in Turn 1, in the worst case we would have finished fourth and, more realistically, third. “
The post Mercedes explains towing plan for Hamilton in Mexico at Turn 1 first appeared on monter-une-startup.
