“Complete Mess”: Former Ferrari Boss Lashes Out at Mercedes for Ruining Lewis Hamilton’s Dutch GP

The Dutch GP was a complete mess. For some—like Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso—it was an organized mess, and they managed to get the best result they could. For others—like Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes—it was a chaotic mess. The worst part for the Brackley team was that it had the car to compete for the podium with both its drivers but just couldn’t get a handle on things. 

Much like Hamilton’s contract negotiations with Mercedes, when one thing seemed to be going right during the race, something else went wrong. And it was Hamilton and George Russell who had to bear the brunt of Mercedes’ incompetence. 

Lewis Hamilton paid the price for Mercedes’ mistakes

Having been affiliated with Ferrari as its General Manager from 1989 to 1990, Peter Windsor has seen his fair share of questionable strategy calls. Seeing Mercedes’ race unravel from having been in a position to extract a good result, he lashed out at the Brackley team for its strategic calls during the topsy-turvy Dutch GP. Zandvoort, a venue that hasn’t shown signs of rain in the past couple of seasons F1 visited, came with a twist this year. As if waiting for the race to start, rain came pouring down as soon as the lights went off. Teams had to decide whether or not to bring their drivers in for a change of tires.

With Russell running in P2 and Hamilton in P12, the pit wall brought them in after Lap 4, when the rain had already stopped. That dropped them almost to the back of the grid. The worst part was the slicks were already getting faster than the Intermediates that Hamilton and Russell changed to. In his YouTube livestream, Windsor said, “If you didn’t come in in the first lap, stay out, especially if you’ve got two guys [in competitive positions]. For me, that’s what they should be saying. ‘Why didn’t we back ourselves, stay out there, and just live with it?’”

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“Because then this very fast car (the W14)—faster than the Aston Martin and the Alpine—that Toto is talking about might well have taken Lewis to the podium. And maybe even George,” Windsor continued. Following Logan Sargeant’s crash on Lap 16, Mercedes pitted Russell for hard tires during the Safety Car. Alluding to that and Mercedes’ poor strategic calls throughout the race, Windsor concluded, “That was a complete mess.” The Brackley outfit can’t do anything but assume the blame because Hamilton feels that way, too.

Hamilton pins the blame on Mercedes

If you think about it, had Mercedes left its drivers out for another lap or two, they would’ve gained a massive advantage on the rest of the field. But the entire series of events that followed the rain was, like Toto Wolff said, a catastrophe. After a disappointing result—where Hamilton finished P6 and Russell crossed the line in P17—Hamilton told Sky Sports, “When that rain then came out, we as a team made the wrong decision. Ultimately, it was the team’s call, and we paid the price for that. We came out last, and then we were just chasing.”

Although Hamilton focused on the race result, Toto Wolff instead took positives from the race, considering the W14 showed good pace throughout the race. In an interview with Sky Sports, he said, “I would rather have a fast race car and a mediocre result even though it hurts. It is bittersweet because the result is just really bad. We saw at the end of the inters George had maximum speed, and Lewis was right behind [Carlos] Sainz, so we could have been much further ahead, but it’s still bittersweet because the result is really bad.”

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Where do you think Lewis Hamilton and George Russell would have finished had they not pitted for Intermediates in the first stint?