Like seven years ago
This time there wasn’t a world title at stake, as happened in 2016 in Spain, but the two Mercedes decided in Qatar to replicate what they did seven years ago on the Barcelona circuit. Then the two protagonists were Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who in those years of coexistence went from friends to hated rivals. This time the patatrac is all in British style and was once again involving Hamilton and his young compatriot George Russell. Everything happens in turn 1, where the two Brackley cars arrive practically side by side together with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Hamilton out
Russell is in the middle while Hamilton comes from behind but on the outside ‘lane’, with much greater grip than its sister car guaranteed by the use of new soft tyres, against his teammate’s used mediums. Hamilton, however, has the responsibility of closing his trajectory too much, taking the corner a bit as if Russell’s car wasn’t there. For his part, #63 didn’t lift his foot, remaining in the middle, with Verstappen inside. A fatal inattention by the pair of Mercedes drivers, which caused a hard contact between the two W14s. The seven-time world champion was the one who got the worst of it and was forced to withdraw immediately.
Russell ‘safe’
Russell, however, got away with it, managing to return to the pits and taking advantage of the Safety Car’s presence on the track to rejoin the rear of the group. Of course, however, after the skirmishes seen over the Suzuka weekend, the feeling is that Mercedes will need to give the two roosters in the henhouse of Brackley a good earful. It is also evident that in these last two weekends team principal Toto Wolff was not present at the Anglo-German pit wall, convalescing at home and replaced by a ‘rookie’ in the field like Jerome D’Ambrosio.
Wasted opportunity
What weighs even more is the fact that Mercedes wasted a huge opportunity to gain a head-to-head lead with Ferrari in the Constructors’ standings. In fact, the Maranello team entered this race with just one car, given Carlos Sainz’s withdrawal before the start due to a fuel pump problem. What is certain is that the next few days will be quite interesting to experience within the Mercedes family.
#Shock #Mercedes #Russell #Hamilton #throw #corner