Mercedes: 'We anticipated that Hamilton could overtake Russell'

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were well ahead at the start of Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix, but at the first corner, it was all over for Hamilton after an incident with his teammate. Russell was able to continue but had to put in a tough catch-up race. Engineer Andrew Shovlin looks back and talks about the team's strategy.

Trackside engineer Shovlin explained why Hamilton started on the soft tyres, saying the tyres chosen allowed Hamilton to get to Russell so quickly and attempt an overtake. Hamilton apologised after the race, and the two drivers seemed to have made up quickly. Things seem to be fine within the team, but the incident makes former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher suspect that team orders are more likely to come from Mercedes in the future.

Mercedes drivers sat on different strategy

Shovlin addresses the plan the team had and says in passing that team orders beforehand in Qatar were not part of the plan. Shovlin: "Of all the drivers on the grid, Lewis had the most limited options available in terms of his race tyres and in particular in terms of the Medium compound [...] Given that George had got a
very good start with the Soft the day before, it also went very well on the safety car restarts, we elected to start Lewis on the Soft tyre because of that better grip off the line."

Because of the mandatory number of pit stops in Qatar, it also made little difference in terms of longevity whether the soft or medium tyres were put under Hamilton's W14. The plans were discussed with both drivers and, according to Shovlin, it was clear to everyone that there was a chance Lewis would have a better start and overtake Russell quickly.

Shovlin: "That was always considered, but they were aware they were on different strategies. It was important they didn’t lose time racing each other, and that was clear, but we weren’t imposing team orders in the race. What happened at Turn 1 was simply a mistake."