“Too Much Risk”- Toto Wolff Reveals Mercedes’ U-Turn Over Lewis Hamilton During the Hungarian Grand Prix
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The Hungarian Grand Prix was yet another master class from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. We’re three races into the 2020 F1 season and Mercedes is yet to lose a Grand Prix. From Hamilton’s perspective, Sunday’s race was relatively uneventful except for one incident towards the end of the race.
During the closing stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton and Mercedes appeared to be in two minds over pitting for fresh rubber. Hamilton was leaning towards a second stop but Mercedes appeared reluctant.
Mercedes’ “confusion” over Lewis Hamilton
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Even the team’s pit crew rushed out with tires before calling off the pitstop last minute. That wasn’t the first time Mercedes has pulled a dummy over their rivals. However, yesterday, there was genuine confusion in the Brackley outfit’s garage over Hamilton’s pitstop.
Following the race, Toto Wolff revealed that the team’s original plans didn’t involve stopping late in the race. Wolff disclosed that Mercedes didn’t want to risk an extra stop for the fastest lap point with Hamilton.
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Wolff admitted to Mercedes having a rare moment of miscommunication within the garage. Speaking to Motorsport.com, Wolff said:
“Our communication was not great around that,”
“In the morning we agreed that we wouldn’t pit for a quickest lap, that it was bearing too much risk.
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“The call to pit around Lap 60 to protect against the safety car certainly would have been the right call, but then the gap was never quite comfortable enough. It was a second or two, then 2.5, then we hit backmarker traffic.
“Then obviously we communicated with Lewis, so at the end it was a bit of confusion, and four laps to the end he pitted to score the fastest lap.
“I think there’s a lot to learn from the intercom conversation that we had in the garage, and the communication to the driver. [It was] certainly not 1A, but at the end the result counts.”
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Eventually, Hamilton did stop for fresh tires and went on to set the fastest lap of the race. The Briton’s flawless race at the Hungaroring culminated in him taking over the Championship Standings.
Can Valtteri Bottas bounce back at the British Grand Prix?
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