Monaco GP gaffe: Mercedes hold factory inquest

Leading Formula One team determined for answers to Hamilton fiasco

LONDON: Formula One champions Mercedes were in full gremlin-hunting mode when they regrouped at their factory on Tuesday after committing one of the sport’s biggest strategic blunders at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Although they won Sunday’s showcase race for the third year in a row with Germany’s Nico Rosberg, the headlines were all about how the dominant team blew a surefire victory for Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton had the race under control until the safety car was deployed some 14 laps from the end and the Briton was called in for a needless pitstop while rivals stayed out. The world champion finished third, his overall lead over Rosberg halved to 10 points.

Wolff said the decision to declare a ‘virtual safety car’, a new development since last season, followed by a real safety car and Hamilton complaining about the state of his tyres had caught the team out.

They thought he had enough time to pit and rejoin the race in the lead but the figures were wrong, seemingly misled by unreliable GPS readings around the winding street circuit. “The system, showing us a clear possibility of a free stop, was wrong by a couple of seconds,” said Wolff.

Wolff would not say who made the call to pit and added Mercedes would not play the blame game anyway. “He was dragged in by a decision, fooled by the numbers,” said the boss. “We had a problem in our data tools and those data tools have won us many great races.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2015.

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