Lewis Hamilton had a disastrous end to his Qatar Grand Prix weekend as he crashed out of the main race following a collision with his Mercedes teammate George Russell. Even though the Silver Arrows had planned for the 38-year-old to overtake Russell, their strategy went horribly wrong. Mercedes had split the strategies between the two and had put Hamilton on soft tires as compared to Russell, who was on mediums. However, “non-compliance” on the part of the two drivers, as per Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin, resulted in them crashing into each other on the first lap of the race.
In Mercedes’ post-race debrief, Shovlin explained how the two drivers made a mistake by colliding with each other. He revealed that the team had discussed the strategy with both drivers prior to the race, but the two failed to execute it well.
I’ve watched the replay and it was 100% my fault and I take full responsibility. Apologies to my team and to George.
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 8, 2023
While Hamilton was heated immediately after colliding with Russell, he did take the blame following the conclusion of the race. Taking to X after watching the replays, the seven-time world champion stated that he believed it was 100% his fault and, as a result, apologized to both Mercedes and Russell.
Shovlin explains how Hamilton and Russell executed Mercedes’ strategy horribly
On Mercedes‘ post-race debrief, a fan asked Andrew Shovlin to explain why Lewis Hamilton started the race on softs. The 49-year-old stated that the Silver Arrows had no choice but to start the Briton on softs as he had the most limited options available among all the drivers on the grid.
Shovlin then added that since the medium that Hamilton had originally planned to run had a very similar life to the soft, they obviously went for the latter as it was the quicker of the two. The Mercedes engineer then added that the team had discussed the tire choice with both drivers on the morning of race day and informed them about why they were opting to split their strategy.
After stating the same, Shovlin said, “There was always going to be a chance that Lewis on the soft tire was going to get a better start and overtake George before turn 1. So that was always considered, but they were aware they were on different strategies. It was important that they didn’t lose time racing each other“.
Although Mercedes were aware that Hamilton and Russell were likely to go wheel to wheel into turn 1, they were not keen on imposing team orders. As a result of their decision not to impose team orders, the damage was huge.
While Russell managed to finish fourth despite falling to the back of the grid after the collision, Hamilton failed to score any points. As a result, the 38-year-old also hurt his own chances to finish second in the championship.
Lewis Hamilton failed to decrease the gap to Sergio Perez
Since Sergio Perez only managed to score one point at the Qatar Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton had an outstanding chance to close the gap to the Mexican. However, with him crashing out and not scoring any points, Perez increased his advantage over the Briton from 29 to 30 points. Moreover, it was not just Hamilton who lost out on a golden opportunity.
Mercedes as a team also lost out on the chance to extend their lead over third-placed Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship. This is because since Carlos Sainz did not start the race due to a pre-race technical issue, the Silver Arrows had a fantastic chance to register a good double points-scoring finish.
Hence, even though Mercedes did manage to outscore Ferrari because of Russell’s fantastic fourth-place finish, they could have extended their lead even further. As things stand, Mercedes have a 28-point lead over Ferrari with five races remaining in the 2023 season.
