"The only way to attempt a race win was to gamble," says Toto Wolff
Monday 13 June 2016 12:14, UK
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has credited Lewis Hamilton's Monaco GP victory to an inspired tactical 'gamble' - and the team play of Nico Rosberg.
Wolff applauded Rosberg as "a real team player" for accepting that unless he ceded position to championship rival Hamilton, Mercedes would lose the race to Daniel Ricciardo.
Although a botched pit-stop by Red Bull would ultimately cost the Australian victory, Hamilton was only propelled into a challenge for victory by Rosberg's sacrifice and an ad hoc decision not to use the intermediate tyres - effectively skipping a pit-stop in the process - during the switch-over from wets to slicks as the Monte Carlo track dried out.
"The only way to attempt a race win was to gamble," said Wolff.
Hamilton thanks 'gentleman' Rosberg
On the instruction to Rosberg to yield, Wolff added: "For any driver it is very difficult to accept such a situation so we looked at it for a number of laps and hoped for the tyre to switch on. We debated it for quite a long time but it was clear there was a problem in the [Rosberg] car - it was almost like we had a damaged car.
"To understand the situation was great team play from Nico. Not once did he question it."
After being let through by Rosberg, Hamilton was unable to significantly dent the size of Ricciardo's lead, which stubbornly remained north of 10 seconds, before the Australian stopped for intermediates.
However, the 10-second gap Hamilton had almost immediately pulled out on Rosberg meant the team, assured by the world champion's feedback from the cockpit that his wet tyres had not reached their shelf life, were able to roll the dice tactically.
"He was around 28 seconds clear and as a pit-stop here generally takes 20 seconds, we knew we had some time to play with," explained Wolff.
Despite Ricciardo quickly catching Hamilton on his fresh intermediates, Hamilton and the ultra-tight confines of the Monaco circuit combined to rebuff the Australian's advances before Red Bull's pit-stop calamity enabled Hamilton to hold onto a lead he wouldn't surrender.
"That was a great victory, one of the most important ones," Mercedes chairman Dieter Zetsche told Sky Sports F1. "Everybody is playing together, the team did strategically an amazing job and Nico was helping too, so it's a fantastic team success."
"I think we got a little imbalance into the team and now obviously this was a tremendous success for Lewis. We are supporting both drivers as we always have done, and Lewis has felt that today again and this is very good. We push both drivers as far as we can but of course when there are some struggles it's very important that he gets this strong confidence."
Hamilton's start to the season had been afflicted by various mechanical problems, but Wolff said the difficult moments have "strengthened Lewis and strengthened our relationship".
"If you really go through bad times together it gives the relationship more strength," the Austrian added. "Of course we had many discussions and difficult moments - and this win was just what the doctor ordered. He needed that win."
