Mercedes had an interesting race in Budapest, to say the least. One of the main points of discussion was why Lewis Hamilton didn’t pit and change his set of tires like the rest of the grid did when restarting.
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Team boss Toto Wolff had stated that it was the right decision and that he does not regret it. In the team briefing video, however, technical director Mike Elliott thinks it’s a mistake not to call Lewis back into the pits to change the set of tires.
This strategy resulted in the Silver Arrows throwing away a victory. But it wasn’t all downhill for the Brackley team, because Hamilton inherited second place after Sebastian Vettel’s disqualification.
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Mercedes admits it was a mistake not to pit Lewis Hamilton
While his rivals pitted to change their intermediate tires, the 7-time world champion stayed away for the restart. However, this decision cost Hamilton as he eventually had to pit. Given the delay, he was at the back of the field and had to fight his way forward to save his team’s weekend.
In hindsight, Elliott stated that they should have pitted instead of stayed outside. He said, “In hindsight we clearly made the wrong choice, but you have to remember that these decisions are really, really tricky.”
“Right at the beginning of the race, we had to worry about which tire to fit, as it turned out that the Inter was definitely the right choice, as it started to rain on the starting lap.”
“We struggled after the red flag about which tires to fit, and obviously all the cars were equipped with INTERS. And on this lap before the start, even though all drivers had Intersen built in, others clearly decided to change their minds and we should too. “
“But the reality is that it is actually more difficult for us as a team than for the other teams. If you’re the front car, you can’t see what the others are doing – you’re the leading car, ”concluded Elliot.
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How did the race affect Lewis’ title hopes?
The Knight started from pole position and hoped for another victory. However, he didn’t expect the events of the first corner to affect his race.
The chaos in the first round led to the session being broken off. As the restart began, many were in the pits to switch from intermediates to slicks as the track dried up. However, Hamilton stayed outside as he felt it was the best choice. Later, when he circled the Hungaroring, he soon realized his mistake.
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Formula 1 F1 – Hungarian Grand Prix – Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary – August 1, 2021 Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes in action REUTERS / Florion Goga
Lewis came back to the pits to change his tires and lost the lead of the race, but he didn’t want to give up. The 7-time world champion fought his way back and crossed the finish line in third place. But there was another twist to their weekend when the stewards disqualified Vettel. With that, Hamilton moved up to second place and scored eighteen points.
The Mercedes driver is now leading the title race against Max Verstappen with 195 points and is hoping for a victory in Spa to extend his lead in the championship.
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