Lewis Hamilton admitted Mercedes’ strategy compromised his chances of winning the United States Grand Prix.
He finished the race second, 2.2 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen, having started three places ahead of his rival. Hamilton fell behind the Red Bull driver when Mercedes extended his first stint, hoping to be able to convert him to a one-stop strategy.However the team abandoned that plan and kept Hamilton on the same two-stop strategy as Lando Norris, who he passed to finish second, and the race winner. However Hamilton is convinced that had they used a more conventional two-stop strategy “I do think we would have been in a position to fight with Max.”
“I think we made our life a lot harder today than it probably needed to be,” said Hamilton. “I think it was going to be hard anyways because [Verstappen and Norris] were very quick.”
He believes he lost too much time at the end of his first stint by continuing to lap on old tyres after Verstappen and Norris had come in and were enjoying the benefit of the ‘undercut’ on their fresher rubber.
“At the end of the day, I was 0.18 [seconds] I think behind Lando at the beginning and there’s a huge undercut, there’s a two-second undercut. So in that moment, most likely, we should have probably pitted.
“I would have been close, potentially overtaken Lando in that scenario. It would have still been close between us all because I think we were all similar in pace. But I think we just lost too much time in extending.
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“I really dropped off a cliff in performance and then when I came out, these guys were miles up the road. When Max came into the pits, he wasn’t even close to me. So I don’t know how many seconds he gained, it must be 10 seconds on me.”
However he admitted his strategy gave him the benefit of fresher rubber when he hunted down Norris and Verstappen at the end of the race.
“The offset is helpful in order too, when their tyres have started to drop. But that didn’t seem like it really made a big enough difference. It was really hard to catch, close up that big gap, we were all doing similar times. So they both drove really well.”
Hamilton said there were other points during the race when he lost valuable time to Verstappen. “Normally we have really great starts, but we struggled on our starts this weekend so we lost ground more often than not.
“In one of the pit stops I think I might have been a bit long which then made it harder for the guys and then the stop wasn’t that great overall. So there’s lots of areas that we could have been better.
“But the positives are that we were at points matching them for pace. To be only two seconds back afterwards at the end of the race I think is a good sign.”
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The result gives Hamilton encouragement he may have a chance to score his first victory in almost two years before the season is over.
“It’s a solid second, it’s not just making second, it’s a solid second, so it feels really positive because we’ve still got a few races up ahead,” he said.
“I don’t know how the car’s going to be in these next races, but maybe we’ll be in a position like this and we get the strategy right and get the pit stop right, maybe we’ll be right on their tails and we can have some good racing. So I’m excited.”
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2023 United States Grand Prix
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BasCB (@bascb)
22nd October 2023, 23:57
Yeah, that is quite possible. However given that he might now be looking at a DSQ for wearing the plank down too much, I am sort of glad he did not win, because losing a win over that would be far more painful than a podium.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
23rd October 2023, 0:20
Lewis Hamilton’s strategy corner has been garbage for years. If the 2 stop was the fastest, by some margin, why even pretend ? Why put him on soft tires for the beginning of last race ? why do they keep messing it up. RBR keep it simple, they run the fastest strategy available to them, Mercedes, it seems they want Lewis chasing Max in desperation at the end of the race, so he can slow down to make it look like it was close. Absolute dog’s droppings. But best team won, so what ever, I am glad Lewis has it in himself to stay completely positive in front of the cameras. Completely miserable execution on both sides of the garage today from Mercedes, who either do not believe in themselves and their drivers or are praying to some sort of simulator trying to feed them instructions on how to win .
Craig S
23rd October 2023, 2:01
Mercedes has always been weak on the strategy front – they just had a dominant car for seven years to cover it up. And even then, the mask still slipped sometimes. Now they no longer have that luxury, they’re getting caught with their pants down.