“One of the worst races” of his F1 career is how Lewis Hamilton described the Canadian GP. After a subpar qualifying, he blamed Mercedes for a tire blanket issue that didn’t warm up his tires to the optimal temperature. Though the W15 was a different beast in the race, a few errors on the 7-time champion’s part, coupled with an imperfect tire strategy, cost him the podium. However, according to Mercedes’ Technical Director James Allison, Hamilton’s statements might’ve been unreasonable.

Under the second safety car, Mercedes switched Hamilton from the Medium tires to the Hards while others, including teammate George Russell, switched to Mediums, which was the quicker option. Post-race, he claimed that Mercedes didn’t inform him about Russell’s tire choice, which gave him a half-second boost. He unabashedly termed his strategy as “not such a great call”. Eventually, the younger Briton finished on the podium and Hamilton missed out. This drew a wave of criticism from fans towards Mercedes.

In Mercedes’ post-race debrief on YouTube, James Allison justified their choice. “The decision to do that was the correct one because Lewis had a completely free stop,” Allison said. “He was not threatened by anyone from behind. There was a safety car, which meant he was, at the end of his pit stop, gonna be able to close back up on who was ahead of him and be in the trail behind the safety car. But he would be on fresh rubber. And those ahead of him, other than his teammate, would be on used rubber,” he explained.

Allison then rubbished doubts about how the Hards were considered a worse choice. “It’s absolutely not a question of whether a brand-new Hard would be quicker than a 12 or 13-lap old Mediums. So while he might have preferred a new Medium, there weren’t any new Mediums. That wasn’t an option.” he said, emphasizing that Mercedes had already exhausted all Medium tires allocated for Hamilton. “The only new tire we had was a Hard and that was gonna be quicker than anything ahead of him.”

While Hamilton’s stance was understandable, Allison’s rationale gives a new perspective on the controversy. This is the second time in a row that Mercedes has displayed telling signs of rising internal tension with their departing driver.

Lewis Hamilton’s worsening “divorce” with Mercedes analyzed

After the Ferrari transfer announcement, Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff agreed to amicably part ways. But after the Briton’s unbothered hint in Monaco about Mercedes having a George Russell bias, a hostile situation seems to be emerging.

“You could see that already in Monaco that there was some weird body language and Lewis saying that he was not going to out-qualify George for the rest of the season,” Naomi Schiff said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast. “So, I don’t know if there’s also a whole new layer or a psychological aspect that’s coming in with essentially what is like a divorce between Lewis and the team.”

If this 12-year-long partnership ends on such an unpleasant note, questions and accusations will arise. Because their performance has been subpar anyway, an internal battle might not be affecting them. But if their upgrades to the W15 make them victory contenders like in Canada, such uneasiness will turn into race-losing causes.