The Mercedes driver appeared to be on his way to his first win of the 2022 Formula 1 season after out-strategizing Max Verstappen, but the events of the race at Zandvoort changed the outcome. Virtual and physical safety cars allowed Red Bull to stop with the Dutchman to set up a fresh game of softs, while Lewis Hamilton stayed on track with the used media as the Germans on the wall thought it was worth the risk. to win.
The seven-time champion could not withstand the leader of the general, and was overtaken in the same relaunch after the Safety Car in a demonstration of superiority and intelligence of the Red Bull driver at the same finish line.
Although the RB18 is known to have a significant top speed advantage over its rivals, the difference to the W13 led some to believe there had been a problem with Hamilton’s power unit , although the Englishman insists nothing has happened. . The one with the silver arrows confessed that he had accelerated on the wrong engine map, which caused him to lose speed with respect to Verstappen, who was in his slipstream.
“I put the race mode on late, but I was with it on the straight. They were just very fast there,” said the Briton, who was instructed by his engineer, Peter Bonnington , to change the engine of his configuration with the car of safety to career mode with the order of Strat Five .
Hamilton’s manager said: “When the lights go out [the Safety Car ones], it’s Strat Five . You can use the overtake soon button to push and hold it.” As Hamilton accelerated through the corner at the end of the safety car period, Bonnington again reminded him to put it in that mode, as the Englishman ran out of the 160bhp of extra power provided by the MGU-K until he changed it.
Ultimately though, the lag in engine mode didn’t make much of a difference in keeping Verstappen at bay, as the Red Bull’s top speed was too high to hold him back for the next few laps.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said after the test that the speed problem on the straights was the reason they couldn’t hold their own against Red Bull on the same tyres: “I think what we have to look at is the Lack of top speed. Our car is too slow there, and before we fix that, it’s going to be very difficult to fight on the straights, especially on a track where overtaking is difficult.”
“You never say never, but the probability [of being able to move to the Red Bulls] is less than 50%,” explained the head of the Brackley team.
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