Lewis Hamilton said Mercedes would not take the kind of gamble Ferrari did during qualifying, which led to Charles Leclerc being eliminated in Q1.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said the team hoped to avoid using a second set of soft tyres in Q1 by not sending Leclerc out again. However their rivals’ lap times improved more quickly than they expected, and Leclerc failed to make the cut for Q2.Hamilton said Mercedes would not risk failing to get into the next stage of qualifying in order to save a set of tyres.
“Sometimes it happens: You’ll have a minimum time, the knock-out time, they’ll say the least time is this and they’ll predict the track is going to improve a certain amount and you go out and do a lap and they say you’re safe.
“[On] my first lap, they said you’re safe, but you can stay out and do more. I decided to stay out and better my time and see if the track improved. I’ve been sat in the garage and they’re like ‘we’re on the edge, we might go out again, we might not’.
“They chose to risk it. We don’t really take any risks like that that.”
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Mercedes hold regular discussions over their plans for qualifying to ensure they don’t get caught out, said Hamilton.
“That relationship’s so important, we’ve got great people in our team. They’re not making mistakes and they’re delivering in their work.”
Hamilton’s team principal Toto Wolff said he understood how Ferrari’s error came about and is disappointed Charles Leclerc won’t be near the front of the field in tomorrow’s race.
“These things happen. Using a second set of softs in Q1, you’re penalised. You’re lacking a set of tyres for Q2 and [Q3]. And I think this was the thinking and then the track ramp-up was much stronger than expected and this is how they missed out by this one position.
“It’s unfortunate because Charles was P1 before, it’s his home grand prix and everyone cheers for him. And if I could have had a wish in terms of the narrative around this Monaco Grand Prix it’s to have Charles Leclerc in the fight with us. And he’s not, and that’s a shame.”
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2019 F1 season
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Jere (@jerejj)
25th May 2019, 19:44
And that’s what makes the difference in the end. Mercedes, in general, has been far better at making strategic calls than Ferrari has been over the last 4-5 seasons.
Rockie (@rockie)
26th May 2019, 2:14
The team who who threw away a race win at Monaco by pitting?
TurboBT
26th May 2019, 4:10
Mercedes didn’t threw away win, Hamilton did. Rosberg win for them though.
NoName (@noname)
26th May 2019, 6:38
@TurboBT Lewis didn’t. The team told him to pit and Lewis even asked if it was right and they said yes, so don’t blame Lewis for that mistake.
BasCB (@bascb)
26th May 2019, 18:15
Lewis DID request they stop several times, until the team gave in (because they then misread their data, or had the wrong data) and it backfired @noname.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th May 2019, 9:39
@rockie
The fact that you have to take an incident out of 2015 to prove that Mercedes makes mistakes shows how good Mercedes is generally with their strategy. They do get it wrong on occasion. Austria 2018 comes to mind. But they’re a heck of a lot better at strategy than Ferrari. I don’t know how that’s even debatable.
Rockie (@rockie)
26th May 2019, 12:11
’14 – ’17 they lost only 9 races when you have a car that fast your strategy team looks like geniuses!
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
25th May 2019, 19:54
It’s finally twigged what Ferrari’s 2019 mission is.
We Implode Now Not One Win
Jean-Christophe
25th May 2019, 20:10
They did in Singapore last year. Lewis almost got knocked out.
erikje
25th May 2019, 21:57
Almost.. That’s the difference
Jean-Christophe
26th May 2019, 0:54
Was a risk nonetheless.
Martin
26th May 2019, 1:39
Indeed, though (as ever) if you look at what Hamilton actually said (and not racefans misleading headline):
“We don’t really take any risks like that that”
He is not saying they never take risks, just their tendency is to not to, rendering your comment moot.
knightameer (@knightameer)
25th May 2019, 20:41
Good going Lewis. Rub it on their incompetent faces.
a (@aaaa)
26th May 2019, 7:53
Yeah, and I thought the
“Now that’s what I’am talking about “ cry from Lewis was in the same vein.
Andy Bunting (@wildbiker)
26th May 2019, 6:14
MISSION WINNOW? More like MISSION MINNOW with whichever rsclowns are in charge of making tactical decisions. Chalk & Cheese these 2 top runner teams.
The end is nigh for SV too. How many more unforced errors will the Ferrs put up with from him?
As for giving CL a knee in the balls at his home race? Unforgiveable.
Adan Finnell
26th May 2019, 8:55
Firing the man who brought the team to almost win the championship for two seasons in a row while promoting the guy who designed a very bad car in the last several season is the real problem in Ferrari. It looks to me the usual Italian problem in the job market: promoting politics and friends, while firing delivering members of the team. Binotto is totally out of place both in terms of head of the engineers and team principal. He doesn’t have any communicative skills required both for marketing and political presence in F1 and I personally doubt other more technical skills. Letting him controlling 3 key places of the team, literally making him controlling himself is a total nonsense to me.