Mercedes is to look at whether their decision to split strategies “unconsciously” favoured Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix.
Team boss Toto Wolff explained that the suggestion had been put forward to take a different approach with both drivers in the morning to try and avoid the race being decided at the first corner.
“We felt that it would provide an interesting race. It still overlapped in many instances, we knew they would be racing each other but maybe with a different strategy, so that’s what we tried,” he explained via GPBlog.com.
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As it was, Hamilton was put onto what was considered a slower one-stop strategy while Valtteri Bottas was put onto a more optimal two-stopper.
However, the simulations proved very wrong as it was the Briton who was able to stay in touch with his teammate and later capitalised on a mid-race Safety Car to pit and secure the win.
“One-stop honestly was out of the question today and that was a mistake from our side,” Bottas reflected. “It was by far the quickest strategy today, the medium-hard, but we thought it would be much slower.
“I honestly think with the pace I had I could have won.”
Valtteri’s latest defeat sees him slip 39 points behind Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings as the halfway mark of the season approaches.
But he is insistent on doing thing’s his way, rather than turning to a psychologist, as his predecessor Nico Rosberg had done.
“I don’t think it would work for me. Every athlete, every person is individual,” Bottas said.
“Some need some outside support. I have plenty of good people around me I can talk to and for me, it’s the man in the mirror that gives the answers if I have hard times or if I doubt.
“So I plan to solve it myself. I don’t really see any gain from that at the moment. I’m not Nico. I know what is best for me.”
As for what his reflection will be saying after Silverstone, he claimed: “He will say good job all weekend, unlucky. Forget about it, learn whatever you can and move on. Win in Germany!”