The Bahrain GP was the first time the W-14 was placed in a competitive environment, and it’s safe to say it didn’t deliver. However, Lewis Hamilton made it to an edge-of-the-seat battle with his former rival Fernando Alonso- one that had repercussions for the rest of his race.
In their post-race debrief, Mercedes answers fans’ questions regarding their performance and decisions during the race. When asked about the moment they ignored Hamilton’s call on strategy, the team clears what their strategy was.
Lewis Hamilton ignored by Mercedes
Toward the end of the race, Hamilton was given the order to box for a second time. However, the driver countered the tires were fine, and the stop wasn’t required. However, they brought the driver in to play along with their strategy.
Classy. 🤝 @LewisHamilton
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 7, 2023
Turns out, it was Fernando Alonso’s looming threat that forced this move from the 8-time champions. Closing in on Hamilton, it put the Spaniard within undercut range. Andrew Shovlin explained, “it was just to stop to make sure we could keep that position; so we would’ve liked to go longer, had it not been for that threat.”
Admitting that the Aston Martin on their tail was the quicker car, the surprise came in their ability to make moves on the track. Having had no information on how competitive the green car actually is, they attempted to secure the battle against Alonso, instead of focusing on Sainz.
“If we’d known that, we maybe would’ve accepted that we were going to lose that position and we’d have gone longer with Lewis; maybe having a slightly better chance against Sainz.”
Hence, having ignored their driver, Mercedes lost the chance of potentially having Hamilton in P4, only piling on to the driver’s frustrations against his team.
Hamilton lashes out at Mercedes
After two disappointing weekends in Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have accepted their gloomy fate. However, this does not stop the driver from calling out his team in a rare moment of frustration.
Tough night for the whole team, but we’ll stick together no matter what. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/nZISblbtol
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 5, 2023
Stating that he had given the team his notes on how they could improve their car this year, Hamilton was annoyed they ignored him. “It’s about owning up and saying, ‘Yeah, you know what? We didn’t listen to you. It’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work’,”
Usually cool-headed regarding his team, his outburst only reflects the true extent of his disappointments with the team. If the leader wants to reach the highest championship yet, everyone needs to work together.
