Mercedes explain their Eifel GP strategy!

After the opening phase, the Eifel Grand Prix seemed to become a battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. For a short period of time the Dutchman managed to keep up with the pace of the reigning world champion. However, after a number of laps Hamilton drove away from Verstappen, after which it was quite clear who had the power at the Nürburgring.

Because both practice sessions were cancelled due to the weather on Friday, the teams had to make do with an hour on Saturday before qualifying. As a result, there was little knowledge about the tyres, which caused a lot of questions for the teams about a one- or two-stropper. "We had a good margin over Verstappen and we both rode on the same tyre we changed during the VSC," James Vowles explains in the Mercedes debrief.

Just follow Verstappen

"The question is whether we would make two stops without the safety car. That question also applied to us, from the 35th lap to the 40th lap. We didn't know how the tyres would behave, because we only drove ten laps in the third free practice.

"After the first stop we saw that the tyres didn't wear out very much, so we were able to do a one-stop." This limited wear and tear was not the only reason why Mercedes eventually opted for a single-stopper. "Our thought was: 'As long as Verstappen doesn't stop, we have no obligation to stop'. Our wear and tear was better, and if Verstappen went for an extra stop, we could just follow the lap after that," says Vowles.