In the early going of the Japanese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton offered to allow teammate George Russell to pass him; in the end, Russell finished two places ahead of Hamilton in seventh, reversing their starting positions; Toto Wolff, the CEO of Mercedes, lamented a “atrocious” first tenure
During what Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called a dismal opening stint for the Silver Arrows during the Japanese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton gave an explanation for why he let teammate George Russell to past him.
After a significant first-lap collision involving Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon that resulted in a red flag and standing restart, Hamilton started the race in seventh place, two positions ahead of Russell, but lost ground to Charles Leclerc when the race was restarted.
Upon noticing the fast narrowing space between the Mercedes cars, Hamilton inquired over team radio about letting Russell pass. On lap 14, he was told to do so.
Hamilton, a seven-time world champion who fought Russell hard during the previous season, was unusual in that he offered to let his teammate through with them both using the same approach.
“I think I picked up a bit of damage at the beginning with Charles, he came around the outside,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“I had huge understeer for the first stint. I couldn’t turn the car through any of the corners.
“That’s why I let George by.”
The two Mercedes drivers eventually switched places at the end of the race, starting seventh and ninth respectively. During the early red-flag halt, both drivers gave up on the idea of making a single stop.
Hamilton stated that Mercedes’s inability to move up through the field at Suzuka was not down to their planned decisions.
When asked what Mercedes could have done differently, he replied, “I don’t think anything.” It was a huge problem today since we still had two really awful hard tires to run through, so I’m not sure what the alternative plan would have been. Perhaps starting on the medium.”
Mercedes had two fresh sets of the compound instead of just one, which ultimately turned out to be stronger, which affected their decision to go to the hard.
Hamilton continued, “The hard tire was pretty bad.” It appears that we should have had two medium tires in retrospect because the medium tire was far superior. However, the automobile was not great overall.”
