Mercedes concede 'we were wrong' after Russell Suzuka frustration

Sam Hall
Wednesday 12 October 2022 18:56

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has conceded that George Russell was right with his assessment of the team's strategy at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Although the Suzuka race took place in treacherous conditions, it was quickly evident that the intermediate tyre offered considerably more pace the wet compound.

After watching some backmarkers successfully make the change, Mercedes wasted no time in pitting both its drivers on the same lap.

This call was heavily criticised by Russell was forced to wait as Lewis Hamilton was serviced, a delay the 24-year-old cost him in the region of 10 seconds.

After crunching the numbers, Mercedes has been forced to concede that, on this occasion, it got it wrong.

"We've gone through all the timing of that and we've concluded that no, it wasn't the right decision," said Shovlin.

"We should have done what George was asking which was to give him the lap in clean air.

"Now, we had seen that the intermediates were a lot quicker, so on the extreme wet, you would have lost time on track but the problem was that George and Lewis [Hamilton] were a bit too close for us to be able to do the pit stop without losing some time.

"That time ultimately cost George the position to Tsunoda and possibly even the position to Lando. So it gave him a bit more of a challenge to deal with, having to pass those cars to find any clean air."