Lewis Hamilton explains strategy ‘dispute’ with Mercedes

© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.

At the Miami Grand Prix Mercedes asked Lewis Hamilton if he would like to pit for the second time under the Safety Car. He told them they should make that decision.

At the Miami Grand Prix, while the Safety Car was out, Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington came on the radio and asked him if he would like to pit for fresh tyres.

This prompted Lewis to tell the team that they should be the ones making that decision. After the race he explained the ‘dispute’.

“It is just that when you are out there, you don’t have the information and don’t know where everyone is and where you will come out and you don’t have the picture they [the team] have on the screens,” Hamilton said.

“So when you are given the responsibility to make the decision, it feels like you are gambling and I don’t like that.

“So I was like you guys make a decision. But either way, we were a bit unfortunate with the safety car today.”

He also gave his comments on the situation to Sky Sports F1.


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“When the team say it’s your choice, I don’t have the information to make the decision. So that is what your job is, make the decision for me. You have the details, I don’t.”

The team advised Lewis to stay out, and this decision led to George Russell, who made his first pit stop under the Safety Car, easily overtaking his on fresher tyres.

Despite losing out, Hamilton praised the young Briton

“Well, George obviously did a great job in that first stint. He was on the better tyre to start with, the hard tyre was the best tyre so in hindsight, maybe we could have started on the hard tyre.

“But again, he did a great job to recover from his position and get the points so we got fifth and sixth today, it is good points for the team.

“It was fair, he had fresh tyres so I was a bit of a sitting duck,” Hamilton concluded.

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