Mercedes described the first-lap collision between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the F1 Qatar Grand Prix as a “mistake”, but could it have been avoided?
But the Mercedes duo ended up making wheel-to-wheel contact that sent Hamilton spinning off into the gravel and out of the race, while Russell had to pit and dropped to the very back of the field.
“This was in part due to the laps that we did on Friday morning before we had any awareness that there might be an issue with the tyres. “So that was always considered, but they were aware they were on different strategies, it was important that they didn’t lose time racing each other and that was clear, but we weren’t imposing team orders in the race.”Would a clear instruction for Russell not to challenge Hamilton in such a situation have prevented this?
However, aware that Hamilton had got the better initial launch, Russell did make a slight movement to cover off his teammate in the second phase of the start before the braking zone. There was an opportunity for Hamilton to overtake Verstappen and take the lead. It may have been Mercedes’ best chance of beating Red Bull and, in many regards, they had absolutely nothing to lose in going for it.
Shovlin said: “The early predictions were coming in at the back of the points, but not scoring many. As the race went on, those predictions got better and better. Ultimately, they ended up indicating that he would finish fourth place.
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