Max Verstappen has broken the winning streak of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes back in 2021. Albeit, the Silver Arrows won the constructor title that year, Hamilton could not win his eighth. If the great English driver had won the final race of 2021 in Abu Dhabi, he could have become the first driver to win eight Driver’s championships. But it was not meant to happen that year. Who knows if Hamilton will ever win his eighth title? It certainly does not seem to happen in 2024. There have been several issues that Mercedes has been dealing with regarding their car.
Clearly, there is a correlation issue between their simulation results and the on-track performance. That’s why the Silver Arrows seem to smile before the race but look disappointed after every race. Lately, in Monaco, there was a “Miscommunication” between Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. Perhaps the German outfit wanted to give the seven-time champion a significant tyre advantage. Clearly, the plan didn’t work.
Andrew Shovlin Admits Of Having Miscommunication Between Them & Hamilton In Monaco
In the post-Monaco GP debrief, the Mercedes trackside engineering director mentioned that the team’s plan was not to undercut Max Verstappen. Actually, the plan of the Silver Arrows was to provide Lewis Hamilton a fresh set of tires so that he can close the gap and discourage the Dutch racer from pitting. Thus, the seven-time champion would have a significant tire life advantage. But there was miscommunication and it frustrated Lewis Hamilton instead. Later, the seven-time champion said on the team radio, “Why didn’t you tell me that the out-lap was critical?” In the post-Monaco GP debrief session, Shovlin admitted, as per PlanetF1.com, that the message to the driver could have been a little bit “Tidier.”
Then, the team could have ensured that Hamilton would push in his outlap. Moreover, that would deny a pit stop window to Max Verstappen. Finally, the seven-time champion finished at P7, and his teammate George Russell had a P5 finish. Russell did not pit during the race. On the other hand, the reigning champion finished right above Hamilton at P6. The Mercedes trackside engineering director clearly says that they had no intention to undercut the Red Bull racer. After all, if they stopped, they would have no one else behind them. That’s the reality. But they would have a clear track. Moreover, Red Bull would not have stopped if they had the window to “Drop out ahead of Mercedes.”
Mercedes Looking For An Insurance Policy In Monaco
Andrew Shovlin said that the German outfit wanted to see if Lewis Hamilton could put Max under pressure. Verstappen was racing with a used set of tires. On the contrary, Hamilton was driving with a fresh set of tires. Mercedes was afraid of an unlikely event where George Russell failed to make the finish. Hence, pushing Hamilton with a fresh set of tires was like an insurance policy for Toto Wolff’s team. The plan didn’t work because nobody told Hamilton to go flat out on the out lap.
Instead, Lewis Hamilton gained more time against himself because he was managing, says Shovlin. Moreover, he managed to get that stop and get out in front. Inadvertently, Mercedes ended up with Max Verstappen on a new set of tires behind George Russell. Clearly, that was not the ideal situation. Nevertheless, it was obvious that Russell was not at risk of losing that position. Russell really managed the tires well and, in the end, had good rubber.
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