Mercedes took no risks: 'Otherwise we might have fallen back into traffic'

Many drivers came in for a cheap pit stop in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix to make a late attack on fresh tyres. Mercedes chose not to because it would have posed too great a risk, Mike Elliott explains in a video on the YouTube channel of Mercedes.

"Verstappen and Leclerc were on hard tyres, so when the VSC came out they would have thought: if there will be a full safety car, it will be difficult to get the hard tyres working again. So for them it made perfect sense to make another stop and switch to mediums," Elliott explained.

Both Mercedes drivers had already changed to mediums at their second stop and, as the differences between them must remain the same during a VSC situation, the risk of making an extra pit stop was too great for the team. "Then we might have fallen back and run into traffic, and with that we would be taking a risk," the Briton continued.

With Hamilton and Russell lying third and fourth respectively, Mercedes decided to avoid that risk and thus accept that it could no longer attack. Moreover, Elliott admits that the Ferrari and Red Bull Racing cars were also 'slightly faster' at that stage of the race.