Mercedes says shared experiences like the 2016 incident help it learn a lot about how to react and manage situations like the F1 Qatar GP.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell collided during Turn 1 on lap 1 of the Qatar GP, when Mercedes raced into Turn 1 on lap 1 of the Qatar GP when the former was forced to retire and the latter had to pit. What we saw was not what all F1 teams had hoped for. Pit until the end of the standings.
The drivers initially blamed each other, but Hamilton realized his mistake and formally apologized. FIA stewards made this clear by citing a scenario from the first race, but Russell actually made a strong comeback, finishing fourth ahead of Ferrari on the leaderboard.
With Toto Wolff not in the hot seat in Qatar, Mercedes had to deal with the situation. Russell was worried over the radio, but was reassured by his technicians and also by Wolff over a communication channel set up at his home in Monaco.
Mercedes has had accidents, but at least not that many lately. The last big one is still happening in 2016. At this time, Hamilton and Nico Rosberg clashed not only in Barcelona, but also in several other events, leading to a violent confrontation.
For the team, these shared experiences will help them deal with the situation better. This was also the case in Qatar. “Experiences like 2016 and what we’ve been through over the years have given us great common ground in how we approach these moments as a team, learn from them and process them. I think it’s an experience,” said Bradley, head of communications and president of Mercedes. .
“So we have an intention for the race, we have a shared document where we all agree on how we will approach the race as a team and how we will strive to maximize the team’s points gains. ” Other than that, I’m sure. This is really the basis for us to talk about things and move forward. There is competitive tension between the two drivers and that is exactly what we want the team to do moving forward.
“Their cooperation and actually how synchronized they were in developing the car and explaining the limitations of the car, so we will be able to overcome them in this year’s development and next year’s projects as well.” I concluded. Lord hopes Mercedes will be in a competitive situation where driver dynamics will be tested and the team will be required to deal with it as it means they are fighting for the championship.
“I think when you fight for race wins and championships, one of the privileges that comes with it is managing the competitive dynamics between the drivers. We’ve been there before. , ultimately everyone may have a goal. “It may seem paradoxical in this context that we are faced with these challenges again in this situation,” says Lord. I did.
This is the FIA and drivers in the intense heat at the Qatar GP
Here’s the Mercedes trio on what happened at the Qatar GP
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