Formula 1 is a team sport where team commands are something that is quite commonplace, but the Mercedes team may have gone a little too far in the race for the Singapore GP.
Mercedes first missed the opportunity for The idea of an undercut is to do something An early stop racer gets the benefit of new tires and can in principle drive faster times than his competitor who still rides with worn tires. If the rhythm difference is large enough, his rival will return after the stop. him and undercutt succeeded. It is, in principle, a series of two or three fast laps on fresh tires. There is always the danger of a first-time racer returning to slower racers and unable to take advantage of an earlier stop. ” href = “https://portal-f1.si/glossary/undercut/”> undercut , and then kept Lewis Hamilton despite the tires, hoping that Vettl, Leclerc and Verstapp would stop traffic. which did not happen after all and Hamilton found himself in a hopeless situation.
In the silver arrow camp, Bottas was first called to the box, while Hamilton, with a poor rhythm with worn tires, continued down the track. Soon Mercedes found out that hope was over and they called Hamilton for a stop. Calculations showed Hamilton would return as a teammate after stopping, and Mercedes had to take action.
Mercedes Strategy Chief James Vowles rejoined the story, instructing Bottas to take lap 1 time: . 8, which was almost three seconds slower than Finch's rhythm with fresh tires at the time. Bottas strictly followed the instructions of the team this time, and Hamilton returned just before his team mate, while keeping Alexandra Albon behind.
Of course, Mercedes' strategy is understandable and in line with regulations, but on the other hand we have to ask ourselves whether such interventions pursue the interests of the sport. Formula 1 is an elite motorsport class where racers should race at full throttle rather than hike the brake with impunity and slow down by a full three seconds.
Team commands are an integral part of Formula One, but has Mercedes gone a bit too far in Singapore? A question that re-opens the possibility of discontinuing radio links between racers and their engineers…
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