Mercedes could have prevented Lewis Hamilton collision with George Russell, says Ted Kravitz
Lewis Hamilton accepted responsibility for causing a first-corner collision with Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the Qatar Grand Prix; Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz and Karun Chandhok discuss whether the situation was avoidable
Friday 13 October 2023 06:29, UK
Mercedes lost out on the opportunity to claim a significant haul of points as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell collided on the opening lap of the Qatar Grand Prix, but could the team have prevented the incident from occurring?
With Russell starting second and Hamilton third, behind the Red Bull of newly crowned world champion Max Verstappen, the British pair came together at the first corner.
Hamilton, who apologised and accepted "100 per cent" responsibility for the incident afterwards, attempted to overtake his team-mate around the outside, leaving Russell, who had Verstappen on his inside, with nowhere to go.
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Hamilton came off worse as he lost a tyre and was left beached in the gravel, while Russell was hugely fortunately not to sustain any major damage, rejoining at the back of the field after spinning off.
Russell drove a brilliant race to fight back to fourth, but the 25-year-old's strong display also left Mercedes pondering what might have been if it weren't for the incident.
While it's unclear whether they had enough pace to challenge Verstappen, they appeared to have more than enough in hand to secure a double podium behind the Dutchman.
As it was, Ferrari made ground in the constructors' standings, reducing second-placed Mercedes' advantage over the Italian team to 28 points with five races remaining.
Although Hamilton took responsibility for the collision, Ted Kravitz suggested on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast that Mercedes could, and maybe should, have taken pre-race action to guard against what eventually transpired.
Ted: Different strategies represented opportunity for Mercedes
Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz explains why he was surprised at Mercedes' failure to implement team orders at the start of the Qatar GP:
"You might be able to say that had they been on the same tyres at the start of the race, but they weren't. And that's what really probably underlines the frustration at Mercedes was that they were on different strategies.
"At the middle or end of the race, drivers are quite happy to swap positions because they're obviously on different strategies and it's not going to affect them, it's not a measure of their racing ability if you're ordering the team to let one pass the other, it's just sound management.
"So why wouldn't that have occurred at the first corner of the first lap? Because surely they had discussed the fact that Lewis was on a different strategy. on the soft tyre in the first stint. And his race really depended, because he had so few laps on his medium and his hard tyres, on getting in front of Max and making that soft tyre work for him, maybe slowing down the pace on that soft tyre and getting a good stint length out of the soft tyre.
"Because if you include the soft tyres, he actually had some good stint length in his allocation. But then George fighting him negated all of that. And I'm not saying it's George's fault, Lewis admitted moving across on him.
"So I don't understand why it wouldn't have been the Mercedes strategy to say, 'okay guys, this is what we're going do. Lewis is on the soft, he is going to come round you. George, you are not going to fight him, and he is going try and get Max, and that's what we're going to try and do.'
"And so George would have understood that they weren't racing each other, and that Lewis was going to go round. Lewis would have known that, so would have maybe taken a wider line anyway.
"That's why it just seemed to be so frustrating, because we never saw what was going to happen, and Lewis was on a completely different strategy."
Karun: First-corner switch too difficult
Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok argues that there is too much risk involved for a team to plan a switch of position at the start of a race:
"I think it's very hard to orchestrate that off the start of the race. At the end of the day, you're so reliant on how different people get off the line.
"You can't arrive at the first corner of the race and be looking in your mirrors to say, 'oh, I'm here at the first corner, where's my team-mate? I need to back off, let him pass.'
"George, and he said it, he's looking forward because at the start of the race, you have to look forward, you have to look at where other cars are around you.
"As much as you have some spatial awareness, sure, but the focus is looking forward and driving forward.
"I was pleased to see Lewis admitted 100 per cent fault because as I said in commentary at the time, George was sandwiched in the middle, bit like Nico Hulkenberg the day before, three into one doesn't go, and actually the car in the middle is the one who can't do anything.
"They can't move to the right, they can't move to the left. They've just got to hold a consistent line, and George did that. The issue was Lewis obviously was coming in, Lewis was the one who had more space on the left to sort of just give each other a bit more breathing room. He didn't use it.
"I fully get the mentality, Ted, in what you're saying. If you're starting the soft tyre, you want to make hay while the sun shines and capitalise on the first two laps. One hundred per cent, that is what I think Lewis' mentality was as he went for the dive around the outside. But the whole thing was really unfortunate for the team because they had a quick car."
Mercedes 'considered' implications of strategy split
In their race debrief, Mercedes confirmed that the tyre choice, and their implications, were discussed with both drivers on Sunday morning ahead of the race.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said the only instruction for the British duo was to avoid losing time by racing each other.
"We discussed the start tyre choice with both drivers on Sunday morning and there was always going to be a chance that Lewis on the soft tyre was going to get a better start and overtake George before Turn 1.
"That was always considered but they were aware they were on different strategies. It was important they didn't lose time racing each other and that was clear, but we weren't imposing team orders in the race.
"What happened at Turn 1 was simply a mistake."
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