2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[PlatinumZealot]

What an absolute disaster, giving the car behind the best strategy, while screwing the 7-time wdc who had a potential win. I can’t believe the team allowed this. They shouldn’t have split the strategy at that point. Ridiculous.

The didn't actively screw Lewis.. George just had a better plan for himself, which happened to be the best plan if both were on softs. George did it for George while Mercedes strategists were flat-footed again.

[Hammerfist]

Why didn't they pit Lewis during the safety car? They could have told George to stay 10 cars behind, they had Albon in between Lewis and George too, and then he could pit and stay ahead of Max.

Poor restart by Lewis though, he should have waited to go at the start finish line as car behind must stay behind rear wing of car in front now.

Yeah I didn't understand why Lewis went so early on the restart. It's like he gave up already. But Max would have gotten him sooner or later. That much is clear. Lewis needs to think for himself more and force strategy like George has been doing. Once you see Max behind on softer tires, surely you don't want to be on a harder compound. He is relying on the Merc pitwall too much, a pitwall which has cost him some races last year so it surely ain't the best.

[AA_2019]

Why didn't they pit Lewis during the safety car? They could have told George to stay 10 cars behind, they had Albon in between Lewis and George too, and then he could pit and stay ahead of Max.

Poor restart by Lewis though, he should have waited to go at the start finish line as car behind must stay behind rear wing of car in front now.

Remember though that pitted cars have to come back into the pitlane and on to the track.
They could easily have got 2 cars between them as it was safety car and bunched

Within the SC rules George could stay 10 car lengths behind Albon

[PlatinumZealot]

Why didn't they pit Lewis during the safety car? They could have told George to stay 10 cars behind, they had Albon in between Lewis and George too, and then he could pit and stay ahead of Max.

Poor restart by Lewis though, he should have waited to go at the start finish line as car behind must stay behind rear wing of car in front now.

Yeah I didn't understand why Lewis went so early on the restart. It's like he gave up already. But Max would have gotten him sooner or later. That much is clear. Lewis needs to think for himself more and force strategy like George has been doing. Once you see Max behind on softer tires, surely you don't want to be on a harder compound. He is relying on the Merc pitwall too much, a pitwall which has cost him some races last year so it surely ain't the best.

He went early to get the jump/catch Max Napping. It obviously didn't work, but the only other option was to leave it to the finish line, which is much riskier.

[Big Tea]

Why didn't they pit Lewis during the safety car? They could have told George to stay 10 cars behind, they had Albon in between Lewis and George too, and then he could pit and stay ahead of Max.

Poor restart by Lewis though, he should have waited to go at the start finish line as car behind must stay behind rear wing of car in front now.

Yeah I didn't understand why Lewis went so early on the restart. It's like he gave up already. But Max would have gotten him sooner or later. That much is clear. Lewis needs to think for himself more and force strategy like George has been doing. Once you see Max behind on softer tires, surely you don't want to be on a harder compound. He is relying on the Merc pitwall too much, a pitwall which has cost him some races last year so it surely ain't the best.

He went early to get the jump/catch Max Napping. It obviously didn't work, but the only other option was to leave it to the finish line, which is much riskier.

I did suspect that maybe he was baiting Max to pass him before the line.
These two drivers are the craftiest ever and consider things we only think of later.

[Hammerfist]

Why didn't they pit Lewis during the safety car? They could have told George to stay 10 cars behind, they had Albon in between Lewis and George too, and then he could pit and stay ahead of Max.

Poor restart by Lewis though, he should have waited to go at the start finish line as car behind must stay behind rear wing of car in front now.

Yeah I didn't understand why Lewis went so early on the restart. It's like he gave up already. But Max would have gotten him sooner or later. That much is clear. Lewis needs to think for himself more and force strategy like George has been doing. Once you see Max behind on softer tires, surely you don't want to be on a harder compound. He is relying on the Merc pitwall too much, a pitwall which has cost him some races last year so it surely ain't the best.

He went early to get the jump/catch Max Napping. It obviously didn't work, but the only other option was to leave it to the finish line, which is much riskier.

Why is it riskier? No way Max gets the run on him if he goes much later. Everyone knows that the RB has great straight line speed, so why give them the tow right away while on harder tires? Going at the finish line would have bought him at least a lap. Maybe someone challenges Max and he loses a position. It was far too easy for Max the way it played out. He is not a great thinker when it comes to these situations.

[wogx]

Wait, what? GOAT is not a great thinker?

[chrisc90]

Yeah I didn't understand why Lewis went so early on the restart. It's like he gave up already. But Max would have gotten him sooner or later. That much is clear. Lewis needs to think for himself more and force strategy like George has been doing. Once you see Max behind on softer tires, surely you don't want to be on a harder compound. He is relying on the Merc pitwall too much, a pitwall which has cost him some races last year so it surely ain't the best.

He went early to get the jump/catch Max Napping. It obviously didn't work, but the only other option was to leave it to the finish line, which is much riskier.

Why is it riskier? No way Max gets the run on him if he goes much later. It would have bought him at least a lap. Maybe someone challenges Max and he loses a position. It was far too easy for Max the way it played out. He is not a great thinker when it comes to these situations.

Yep, you don’t go early when you have one of the fastest cars in a straight line behind you, with a slip stream.

Might aswell of waited til the line to go and little/no chance of max getting past into turn 1 which probably mean he would have had a extra lap to try and defend.

Granted, the team should have pitted Lewis for the soft tyre which was a huge mistake

[El_KaPpa]

Christian Horner said he too was surprised to see Mercedes pitting George when he should have been Lewis's rear gunner. That was a selfish move by George and the team backed it. That's how he got use to pass Hamilton.. with fresh faster tires

[proteus]

Christian Horner said he too was surprised to see Mercedes pitting George when he should have been Lewis's rear gunner. That was a selfish move by George and the team backed it. That's how he got use to pass Hamilton.. with fresh faster tires

He is not Bottas. George got the chance of a lifetime and there is no reason why should he play second fiddle. He is beating a 7time world champion in driver rankings which is an achievement by itself in a season where they have no chance for title.

[chrisc90]

Was toto only thinking about Lewis and not the team during his interview? He seemed very bias in his answers from Sky team.

[saviour stivala]

Team radio – ‘’I cant believe you screwed me like that, I cant describe how pissed I am’’.

[214270]

Silly decision during the SC IMO. If you’re going all in for the win you need both cars out front. If you’re halfway aware, you concede & recognise VER is in the faster car and will eventually pass - therefore you pit both.

The saving grace is that there’s not a great difference between a 2,3 finish vs the 2,4 they settled for. Still it was v confusing

[AA_2019]

Why didn't they pit Lewis during the safety car? They could have told George to stay 10 cars behind, they had Albon in between Lewis and George too, and then he could pit and stay ahead of Max.

Watching this again, George was just over 3 secs behind Lewis when they came into the pit lane, Max would have been at least a further 1 sec behind George.

So they could have pitted Lewis and he could still have been in front even without asking George to hang back.

[Tvetovnato]

Mercedes is a close second to the Ferrari pitwall when it comes to screwing strategies. What a mess. Lewis was right to be furious.