Appreciating the safety car for Valtteri Bottas’ retirement midway down the main straight, Red Bull had Max Verstappen drop by the pitlane to fit a fresh set of soft tires while Mercedes kept their two cars on track, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, to attempt the double.
One lap after the Safety Car interrupted the march, the silver arrows changed their minds so that the youngest of the pair stopped to change to the soft compound, but they did not do that with the seven-time world champion, who was trying to hold on the leader of the general with his medium tires.
However, he was unable to prevent Red Bull’s attack and overtaking, but that was not all, as Hamilton gradually slipped back to fourth as he watched Max Verstappen score another win.
During the race, on the Mercedes radio , the Englishman vented his frustration at the strategy: “I can’t believe they screwed me over like that, I can’t tell you how pissed off I am right now.”
Later, before the media, the Briton apologized to his team, and admitted that his emotions got the best of him after having been in the fight for his first win in a difficult season: “I was on the verge of collapsing with my emotions, and I want apologize to the team because I don’t even remember what I said, I just lost my mind for a second.
“But I think they know that I have a lot of passion, and I want to see it as a glass half full, we came here struggling in the last round, and today we were struggling with the Red Bulls. We were faster than most in many places,” Hamilton said. “Without the safety car I think we would have fought for victory with one stop, which I don’t think the others would be able to do.”
“There are a lot of good things to get out of this, the car was finally working. If we manage to make this the same in the next races, we will continue to breathe down his neck, and we will achieve that victory,” assured the Englishman.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff , who spoke to his driver on the return lap to the parc fermé to tell him that they would explain their decision with the strategy at the post-race meeting, indicated that his team had made the bet to go for victory, dividing the options between Hamilton and Russell instead of opting for a conservative result.
“It’s very emotional for the driver, you’re close to victory and they eat you up like that, so it’s clear that all his emotions come out,” said the director of the Silver Arrows. “You, as a driver in the cockpit, are alone and you don’t see what is happening. We discussed at that moment, do we take risks to try to win? Yes, we take risks.”
“I had five lap tyres, and staying on track was the right thing to do,” said Wolff. “In the end it didn’t work out for him, but I’d rather take the risk to win with Lewis [Hamilton] than assume finishing second or third.”
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