Carlos Sainz has agreed with Lewis Hamilton in critiquing Mercedes’ strategy decisions at the Japanese Grand Prix after a messy execution of the same move that helped the Ferrari driver win in Singapore last weekend.
In Singapore, Sainz had backed McLaren driver Lando Norris into the charging Mercedes drivers in a bid to give the British driver DRS in his fight with George Russell and Hamilton, both of whom were on fresh medium compound tyres.
This tactic worked, and Mercedes tried to replicate this to defend from Sainz at Suzuka. With mere laps remaining, the strategists informed Russell to let Hamilton by in order to give him DRS in his fight against the Spaniard.
Unfortunately, his much older hard compound tyres were way past their best, and Russell was easily overtaken by Sainz on the start-finish straight after failing to get the required traction out of the final corner. Hamilton, meanwhile, scampered off up the road to finish in P5.
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Hamilton publicly criticised the strategy call after the race, explaining: “I don’t think that was a good idea at all. When they suggested it to me, I knew that they had obviously thought of it from the last race, and it made no sense.”
The seven-time world champion later posed his alternative suggestion, stating: “I think if we had inverted, maybe George would have had a better time holding him behind maybe, but because he was trying to fight me and damaging his tyres then I think it just made it all complicated.”
Sainz also agreed that the team messed up by inverting the two drivers. The Spaniard revealed to Autosport: “Yeah, I found it [funny], actually. I was laughing in the car because I could see Lewis backing off in 130R to give the DRS to George.”
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While Sainz clearly agreed with Hamilton in that Mercedes’ strategy was wrong, he believed that the seven-time world champion should have remained behind Russell as a rear-gunner, whereas Hamilton had hoped to set off in pursuit of fourth-placed Charles Leclerc.
The Spaniard explained: “I think maybe they had a better chance, honestly speaking, if Lewis would have stayed behind. But at the same time I would have tried a move on Lewis because George was very slow in the Esses, and [Turn] eight and nine.
“So I would have tried into [Turn] 11 or into 13 because they were both very slow there. So we will never know. But [it would have been] riskier to leave also Lewis behind, because if I got Lewis, I got George.”
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