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Albert-AMG
··TAG Heuer Forums ModeratorBut there was another very possible scenario under which their strategy would've been wrong.
What Mercedes did not know was how long it would take to clear the track and green flag the race. If the track was cleared a little sooner, their tire strategy would have handicapped them and the race outcome theoretically would've been the same.
It can also be debated whether the track was safe enough to allow the all the lapped cars through sooner; Horner thought it was and kept asking Masi to let them by. Masi didn't agree. Then it seemed like Masi almost realized he should've let them go through sooner and did what he did, hence all the controversy.
Welcome back Albert! 😀
Yes, Mercedes had to take the decision to stop or not to stop Lewis when the SC was deployed because of Latifi. Max would do just the opposite.
And Mercedes, based on the experience and the Safety Car regulations, decided not to stop Hamilton to get new tyres, as there was a great chance of finishing the race behind the Safety Car -that would have been the case if Masi had respected Art. 48.12-. If Lewis stopped, Max would not stop and would take the lead... So, if the race were finished behind the Safety Car, Mercedes would have given the victory and the WDC Title to Verstappen for stopping Hamilton when he was in the lead. Mercedes' decision was the right one, the only one, given the circumstances.
Alternatively, there could have been a final lap of the race but with several drivers lapped between Hamilton and Verstappen, so the decision not to stop Hamilton was still the right one. Evidently, in for a penny, in for a pound, Max was always going to do the opposite to Hamilton, so he did stop to get new soft tyres, as he was not going to be overtaken by the third driver, who was so far behind... That said, from having 3 lapped cars between Hamilton and himself, he now had 5. Those 5 lapped cars would also have allowed Hamilton to keep the lead until the finish line, in case the race was restarted with one lap to go.
The track was still not clear, so the laps behind the Safety Car went on and on during the Williams' rescue and they were already on lap 57 of a race scheduled for 58 laps. At that point, the regulations (Art. 48.12) gave Masi only two options:
A) Not to let lapped drivers to unlap themselves, withdraw the Safety Car at the end of lap 57 and restart the race with 1 lap to go (with 5 lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen). Hamilton was almost certain to win.
B) Let all the lapped drivers to unlap themselves. In that case, the Safety Car had to pit at the end of the FOLLOWING lap, which was already the chequered flag. Hamilton won 100%.
First, the FIA Race Director sent the message that the lapped drivers would not unlap themselves (in order to restart the race with one lap to go, i.e. option A), but Christian Horner called Michael Masi on the radio asking him to withdraw the lapped drivers and to have a race lap. Masi said “Give me a second”… Surprisingly, shortly after, Masi decided to let the drivers unlap themselves, but only the 5 drivers between Hamilton and Verstappen. The two drivers between Verstappen (2nd) and Sainz (3rd) were not allowed to unlap themselves, so Max didn't even have to worry that Sainz was going to attack him on the restart.
This is another unfair and illegal decision by Masi: if some drivers could unlap themselves, all drivers should be allowed to do so, not just a few selected. Having allowed the unlapping of cars, and to the disbelief of Toto Wolff and Hamilton, the Race Direction announces that the Safety Car will pit at the end of lap 57, when Art. 48.12 specifies that it should withdraw at the end of the FOLLOWING lap, which was already the chequered flag. This breach of the rules by the FIA Race Director left Max Verstappen on new soft tyres trailing a Hamilton at his mercy on hard tyres for over 40 laps...
It was a totally uneven and irregular last lap, which should never have happened. From the moment they allowed the drivers to unlap themselves, the race should have legally ended in a procession behind the Safety Car, with Lewis first and Max second. The tyre difference between the two was gigantic, making it impossible for Hamilton –a sitting duck- to defend against Verstappen. Max crossed the line first after that lap invented by the FIA Race Director.
Under the rules, Mercedes made the correct strategy decision, but Masi took a decision which isn’t allowed. What Masi did is an indecent botch.
Yes, if the Williams had been rescued and the track cleared faster than normal, that last lap would have been legal and Mercedes' decision would have been wrong… but that's not what happened. Mercedes was right, and Hamilton is the legit 2021 Champion under the rules.
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