Mercedes has explained why it didn’t swap its drivers after the Safety Car restart during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
On lap 18, both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton pitted for tyres under a Safety Car period – Russell had Hard tyres attached, while Hamilton had the faster, Medium compound fitted to his car.
Hamilton used his Medium tyres to get in front of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and found himself running behind Russell, who was overtaken by Max Verstappen.
Ahead of the Mercedes pair ran Fernando Alonso, with the Aston Martin driver occupying the final spot on the podium.
Despite having the faster tyre advantage over Russell, Mercedes opted not to intervene.
Explaining in Mercedes’ most recent F1 Debrief video, Technical Director Mike Elliott explained that it was wary that Russell would possess the stronger tyres come the end of the race.
“First of all you’ve got to bear in mind that the Safety Car was pretty early so it was going to be a very long final stint,” Elliot said.
“Although Lewis came out on the faster tyre theoretically the Medium, by the end of the stint the Hard tyre was going to be a much quicker tyre.
“So, although Lewis could put pressure on George initially he wasn’t going to be able to do that at the end of the stint and so there probably wasn’t a clear which tyre is faster or slower if you look at the full stint length.
“We’ve always let our drivers race, that’s just the way we have operated as a team and we didn’t think we were going to be in a position where favouring one driver over the other would get us in a better position in the race. So, we just let them race.”
Hamilton was one of only two drivers to start the race on the Hard tyre, with Williams’ Logan Sargeant also doing so towards the back of the field.
Although Hamilton suffered in the early stages compared to those around him due to the tyre difference, Elliot says it was a gamble worth taking.
“Given where Lewis was starting from, we thought there was a potential gain we could make by fitting the Hard tyre,” he said.
“If we got the Safety Car at the right time, a Safety Car that had come out just after the others had pitted on their Medium that would have really given an advantage to Lewis because he could have a much shorter effective pit stop time if he was able to stop under a Safety Car.
“And as you can see with Leclerc, he had to pit earlier and pitting earlier before that Safety Car meant that he had to take the full stop time in his race time whereas all of those that had stayed out on the track on the harder tyres had the advantage of being able to pit under the Safety Car.
“So, it wasn’t a huge amount in it but we felt to us that that was a strategic gamble that was worth taking.”
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