James Allison, technical director at Mercedes has admitted that his team were slow to realise Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari had switched to a one-stop strategy during Sunday’s Bahrain GP.
Vettel completed 39 laps on his soft compound tyres as Valtteri Bottas closed in, showing extreme ability to both preserve the tyres and keep a good pace.
The German was forced into switching to a one-stop strategy as Ferrari decided that track position was more important than a potentially faster two-stop strategy.
If Ferrari had employed the two-stop strategy, Vettel would have had to climb his way back through the field, and that is easier said than done in Formula One.
Allison said: “We were probably a little bit too slow to recognise the threat that Sebastian was actually going to take the soft tyres all the wat to the flag.
“We expected him to stop again but he did very, very well in nursing those tyres all the way to the flag.”
Mercedes are yet to win a race this season, with Vettel taking the top step in both Australia and Bahrain, so the Silver Arrows will be hoping for an upturn in fortunes in China this weekend.
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