Trouble in paradise. Hamilton and Mercedes squabble over lost points after the Turkish Grand Prix.
This afternoon's race looked set to be a difficult one for Lewis Hamilton. By changing his combustion engine, the reigning champion had to give up ten places on the grid. However, the speed of the Mercs turned out to be so excellent that HAM still seemed to have a chance of victory in the race. And if it wouldn't be the victory, then at least a podium. It wasn't to be, however, as Hamilton was “just” fifth.
That had nothing to do with lack of speed or crashes, but everything to do with the strategic choices made at the tail end of the race. At a certain point, in damp conditions, it became a choice to continue until the end on one set of inters, or to stop again for a second set. Only Sebastian Vettel thought otherwise. The German felt enough grip for an attempt on slicks, but his feeling failed him again.
Ricciardo was the first to make a substitution, but initially seemed to do little in terms of lap time. Only when the second set of inters of the honey badger had worn down did his lap times go down. Red Bull was nevertheless confident. So sure, that it even brought in Max Verstappen from P2 for new inters and then took buffer Perez away from Hamilton's nose for a stop.
Mercedes also seemed convinced that this was the best move. With Bottas, Das Haus therefore also took 'the risk'. At that time, that was only a risk compared to the unstopped Leclerc, after all, Max had already stopped. Hamilton also wanted to get them in, but he didn't want any of that himself. So the British drove on. At least, initially he drove on. This seemed to get him P3…
Until with only seven laps to go, Mercedes called him in after all. This is to ensure P5. Hamilton went with his team now, but in hindsight that was probably the worst thing Mercedes and Hamilton could have done. Any chance of more than P5 was now lost and the Briton even came under pressure from Gasly and Norris. HAM therefore went wild on the radio in the old-fashioned way. And although he had cooled down a bit after the race, Lewis wasn't happy with the microphones either:
Is it difficult to make the right calls? No, I don't actually think so. I heard that Ocon made it to the end of the race on his first set of tires so I think it was possible. What we did now was probably the worst option. But yeah, I came in anyway, because we're a team.
Lewis Hamilton, has found his goat wig again
Team boss Toto Wolff disagrees with his superstar:
Lewis couldn't see he was losing a fat second per lap. The best strategy would probably have been to stop at the time we initially envisioned. Then we could have fought on track afterwards with Perez and Leclerc for P3. When you're in the car you don't have the whole overview, but we have enough time to talk this out.
Toto Wolff, secretly hopes that George Russell is faster than Lewis Hamilton
With his fifth place, HAM loses eight points today to Verstappen, who finished second. At Mercedes they have to try to manage the emotions a little better tonight than the tires today