Mercedes dominance COULD bore fans
Hamilton wins his second of the season...
Source: Motorsport.com, Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
I don’t want to sound like a salty fangirl, but it should’ve been George Russell’s second win of the season. Period.
But even the most heartbreaking result of a race disqualification does not prevent fans from enjoying a brilliant race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The prospect of a Verstappen charge through the field, a possible fight between Mercedes and Mclaren up at the front, time-a-ticking for Perez in the second Red Bull…the lead-up to Sunday was filled with fascinating little subplots for fans to enjoy.
George Russell absolutely crushed the strategy contest with the second-greatest call in recent history (nothing will ever top Sainz at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix). He went on the one-stop when the rest of the top 8 were on the two-stop.
A short interlude as I dive into some more tyres strategy lessons for our less-experienced readers. Here are the basic rules of tyres in F1:
Every driver has three tyres compounds available throughout the weekend: soft, medium and hard.
Soft tyres have the most grip, and so are the fastest; hard tyres have the least grip, and so are the most long-lasting; medium tyres are in between.
Every driver must use at least 2 different sets of tyre compounds in a race.
That means at least 1 pitstop per race to change tyres.
Now, back to the glorious happenings of happenstance* on Sunday.
7 out of the top 8—Hamilton, Piastri, Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, Perez, and Sainz—were on the two pit-stop strategies, all hoping to undercut or overcut each other in a bid to claim the maximum points. The pace of all 4 teams was so close that victory seemed possible for everyone with at least one of their drivers in the mix. George Russell, to say the least, was NOT in said mix. That is until he decided that he was going to skip the second stop and try to gain about 20 seconds of race time over the rest of the top cars. Naturally, after everyone else was done pitting, he came out into the lead of the race. Hamilton and Piastri charged after him in 2nd and 3rd place respectively, but Russell-Hustle valiantly held on with 30+ laps older tyres than his challengers to cross the line less than a second ahead of his team-mate.
WOAH. What a brilliant call! Wait…why didn’t anyone else think to do the same? Well, tyre wear is tricky. There were no indications for any of the teams during the Friday and Saturday practice sessions that even the hard tyres would be able to last more than 20-25 laps under race conditions, and here comes George Russell who did THIRTY FOUR LAPS on them.
Then again, one needs to relook at the definition of “to last.” The severity with which the teams talk about tyre wear makes it seem like the tyres will physically explode (which they kind of can) if the drivers go a lap extra on them. In reality, they mean that after a certain number of laps, the tyres become so worn down that the driver begins to lose performance, that is, lap time. In summary, the driver can still drive, but increasingly slowly with every lap. This slowness can be counteracted by the car becoming physically lighter every lap as it uses fuel.
That was one reason Russell managed to hold on to the race win. There were a few others, like the fact that Hamilton did not have enough of a pace advantage on him to maximize DRS usage; Hamilton’s tires also became dirtier and dirtier the longer he was stuck within 2 seconds behind Russell; the track was not overtly known for overtaking opportunities. Plus, Russell had seemingly committed to the one-stop very soon into the race and had conserved his tyres well enough to hold off any last-lap charges.
The rest of the field was astounded in the aftermath of the race, with the team principals of Mercedes, Red Bull, and Mclaren praising George for his brave call. Despite coming 2nd and securing a 1-2 finish for the team, Hamilton was MIFFED. He seemed to be under the impression that the team was firm on the two-stop, and admitted he would have preferred the one-stop because he was left with plenty of tyres at the end of both of his stints. If he had known the one-stop was on the cards, he would've gone for it or pushed more on each stint to cover Russell.
The split strategy calls may stink of blatant favouritism within the team, but there was a reason. The one-stop strategy was risky, VERY risky, and the team wasn't going to give their lead car in the race, Hamilton, anything but a safe, smart strategy to ensure he drove a safe, smart race. Meanwhile, Russell was projected to finish 5th with either strategy, so it became easier for the team to roll the dice with his strategy.
Sadly, in the end, it was all for nothing. Russell was disqualified from the race because his car’s weight was 1.5 kg below the minimum weight limit. The FIA has adopted this strict rule, and there was no arguing against the numbers. Mercedes kept the victory, with Hamilton getting promoted from second; after all his magnificent efforts, Russell went home empty-handed.
In other, less-depressing news, the much-anticipated Verstappen charge flickered out upon reaching the top 8; clearly, Red Bull doesn’t have the fastest car on the grid anymore, no matter the magic Max Verstappen is generating with it. He ended the race in a petty squabble with Norris for 5th place. Meanwhile, Piastri is the faster Mclaren AGAIN, with Norris having botched his race start AGAIN. Oh, also, Carlos Sainz is driving for Williams in "2025, 2026, and beyond." What a fun way to end the first half of the season!
*Taylor Swift reference! (those who get it, get it)