Windsor: 'Mercedes momentarily forgot how fast the RB18 and Verstappen are'

Although Mercedes were again just not bold enough strategically to win against Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen, F1 expert Peter Windsor does not want to be too harsh on the team. Indeed, it was mainly Verstappen's performance that made a victory impossible for Mercedes.

Strategy kills Mercedes again

Mercedes has made noticeable strides after a difficult start to the season. At the Mexican Grand Prix, the upgrades the team had already brought to the United States really came to life. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton competed for pole position and qualified P2 and P3 on Saturday. In the early stages of the race, Hamilton was able to keep up with the world champion for a long time, but strategy threw a spanner in the works for the Briton.

Windsor says in an afterthought of the race on YouTube: "Before we give Mercedes too hard a time, a strategy in which Lewis Hamilton finished second in the Grand Prix, this was predicted by Pirelli to be slightly slower but almost as quick." The one-stop Mercedes opted for was only a fraction slower than the two-stop Red Bull Racing opted for. Mercedes went for the safer choice.

Credit to Verstappen

According to Windsor, Mercedes only made a big mistake: "The problem was; they didn't take into account how good the Red Bull RB18 is on race day when they are managing the tyres as well as Verstappen does. He managed to get through on the soft to medium strategy. It was a great race by Verstappen." Mercedes expected the medium-to-hard strategy to be stronger for most of the race, but that expectation turned to despair in the final stages.

"Verstappen made those tyres last," Windsor finally said. "Sergio Perez did the same, but he was not as effective as Verstappen. He kept Russell behind him and made it a Red Bull one-three.