Mercedes boss Toto Wolff defended the “clear decision” to switch Lewis Hamilton onto soft tyres for the start of the Eifel Grand Prix.
Despite already setting a quick enough time on mediums to reach Q3, the Briton was sent out again to complete a second run on the softs as the team switched their compound strategy for the start.
That call didn’t initially sit well with Hamilton, who revealed as much post-session, but Wolff later claimed their explanation why had convinced the six-time world champion.
“I think we were just in the debrief it was discussed and it is clear the soft is the right tyre to start with and Lewis agreed with that,” he was quoted by Crash.net.
“Starting on the medium you lose about four metres against the soft and all his competitors around are on soft so it makes no sense to take big risks and a big gamble.
“You could clearly see in Q2 no one would have qualified on the medium so you would have had a real disadvantage for the first few laps and that was a clear decision.
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“Now obviously Lewis doesn’t like to be in P2 or worse so that’s why an alternative strategy makes a lot of sense because accepting to follow a car is not how he operates,” the Austrian conceded.
“The whole group believes the soft tyre is a good tyre to start with, two stop or one, there is no data from long runs, whether the hard or the medium is the right choice, I find it super exciting.”
Another reason potentially why Mercedes switched was to cover the seemingly increasing threat from Red Bull, as Max Verstappen came within three-tenths of ending their 100% pole record this season at the Nurburgring.
And Wolff does believe the Dutchman’s performance is proof that their Milton Keynes-based rivals are doing what they have always seemed to do in recent years.
“We tend to see this pattern that Red Bull catches up towards the end of the season,” he said. “I guess it’s good for the championship.”
At the same time though, one reason for this could be Mercedes already turning their attention to next year’s W12.
“We are deploying the strategy that we believe is right, balancing [development for] next year and this year,” he added.
“We can see the results on track but we need to be vigilant and accept that the competition will increase over the last few races.”