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Mercedes raised their hand and admitted they were at fault for not changing Lewis Hamilton’s strategy at the French Grand Prix as he lost to Max Verstappen.
Hamilton had taken the lead in the first corner after his title rival went too far at the start, but the two clashed throughout an absorbing run at Paul Ricard.
Verstappen mirrored what Hamilton did at Red Bull to win the Spanish Grand Prix, as the Dutchman made an extra pit stop and chased victory over cooler rubber, eventually overtaking the Briton in the penultimate tower.
Verstappen had also managed to undermine the Mercedes after being the first in the pits and revised a three-second gap before the pit stops. After Hamilton’s frustration and tire complaints, he retaliated by saying, “Let’s make sure we undermine them this time.”
However, the two Mercedes cars stayed on the sidelines and Valtteri Bottas was also angry with the decision to carry out a one-stop-shop strategy with a swear-laden radio message after being passed by Sergio Perez in the later stages of the race.
Mercedes chief quarterback James Vowles entered Hamilton’s team radio after the checkered flag fell and said: “This one is on us. Thank you for doing everything to get this race back. You drove incredibly well.
Max takes action!
How good is this championship battle? #GP of France # F1 pic.twitter.com/mzdpiq9pQW
– Formula 1 (@ F1) June 20, 2021
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Team principal Toto Wolff added that the team needed to learn the lessons after being beaten at Paul Ricard, telling Sky Sports F1: First of all, [there is] a lot to learn because we have to understand, I mean, [Red Bull] doing phenomenal laps why did we misjudge clearance is maybe something we need to look at, but that’s only to improve.
[The race was] back and forth we were in the lead because Max made mistakes. It was a bit inherited.
And then our pace was good and we were maybe even a little ahead, we had about three seconds apart to protect the undercut, but it was not enough. We were missing a second and there was somewhere we lost it.
With Verstappen also having the fastest lap of the race at Paul Ricard, Hamilton’s drivers’ championship deficit is now 12 points ahead of the first of two races at the Red Bull Ring.
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