Four major Mercedes errors identified as ‘supercritical’ Sky F1 pundit takes aim

一个很棒的周末,刘易斯·汉密尔顿,公关e-disqualification, lost out on the United States GP win by 2.2s, a “supercritical” Anthony Davidson has highlighted four areas where it went wrong.

Hamilton started Sunday’s Austin race from third on the grid while Max Verstappen lined up in sixth place.

The 2021 title rivals began to work their way up the order with early race leader Lando Norris also involved in the battle for the win.

Mercedes urged to turn defence into attack

However, when all was said and done it was Verstappen who claimed the victory, his 15th of the season, while Hamilton crossed the line 2.225s later.

Arguably the biggest issue on the day was Mercedes’ call to put Hamilton on a one-stop strategy. But with the driver struggling with his tyres, they eventually had to pit him and swap to a two-stopper.

But by then it was game over as Verstappen, always on a two-stopper and pitting several laps before Hamilton, got the jump on the Briton.

Davidson accepts that Mercedes needed to do something different to Verstappen as on the same strategy the Dutchman would have still won but he wonders if Mercedes with the initial one-stopper were too defensive.

“If they hadn’t have gone through an alternative strategy today, to go into the mediums at the end of the race to try and offset themselves against the likes of Verstappen, I do believe that Verstappen would have had them covered,” he told Sky Sports.

“If they went just on the plain same strategy, I think Verstappen had the speed in that car today on the same strategy to win the race.

“Ultimately, I feel like Mercedes didn’t quite understand fully the speed of their car today perhaps.

“But I still feel like Red Bull could have with Max responded on the same strategy. And I feel like Mercedes had to try to think outside of the box in defence.

“Maybe it’s time with this upgrade now to stop feeling so in a way negative and defensive and start to attack a bit more with a strategy as well.”

How Lewis Hamilton lost a second to Max Verstappen

作为the former F1 driver continued examining exactly what went wrong for the seven-time World Champion, he reckons a few small mistakes from Hamilton didn’t help.

“When you are so close like that, you have to start looking at little details,” said the former F1 driver. “One of these moments came for Lewis down at Turn 11. This was a pretty costly lock-up and error there and that critical moment of the race.

“You had drivers there pitting in front of him, trying to do the undercut. Verstappen was the first of that trio out front doing it. So those laps were critical.”

Conceding he was “being supercritical” as Hamilton had a “fantastic” weekend, Davidson says the lock-up was “unfortunate in its timing because you are fighting Verstappen and Norris so closely at this point.

“I think this must have been at least half a second’s worth in just that corner alone, running so wide on the marbles.”

With his tyres going, Mercedes had to give up on their intended one-stop strategy and swap Hamilton to a two-stopper. But his first stop was slow, 3.6s.

“On top of that, you had the slower pit stop,” Davidson said. “It’s fair to say that Mercedes haven’t been the best or the fastest this year, but this stop was slower than they would have expected.

“That was another chink in the armour, one other problem. If you’d have rectified both of those, you would have been now maybe a second down the road from where you were at the end of the race.

“All of this adds up, especially in a race where you don’t have a Safety Car or any Virtual Safety Cars.”

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Another lost second behind Charles Leclerc

But it was Hamilton’s battle with Charles Leclerc that Davidson believes was arguably the biggest blow to the Briton’s chances as he stuck behind the Ferrari after his second pit stop.

That, the Briton reckons, cost his compatriot “six-to-seven tenths” if not a “second”.

“It was unfortunate timing, behind Leclerc. He was on the medium tyres, hunting him down. Leclerc is trying to do the one-stop strategy here,” he explained.

“If he’d have just got him in this corner, he would have saved heaps of time. He wasn’t quite close enough, he tried to go around the outside of Turn 2, but he didn’t quite have the momentum and couldn’t quite do the switchback as effectively as he would have loved to.

“He had to follow Leclerc all the way through this high-speed section, losing time hand over fist. Maybe another six-to-seven tenths lost in that whole sequence, maybe even a second because Leclerc was that slow.”

Hamilton’s efforts ultimately came to zero with the Briton disqualified after the race when his W14 failed a post-race plank and floor inspection. The plank on his car was found to be less than the required 9mm in thickness.

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