The Hungarian Grand Prix has left us many historical moments. One of them was the first outing in history with a single car on the grid: Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes # 44. This is what happened.
When the whole grill except Lewis hamilton he was heading towards the pits moments before restarting a race that had been stopped as a result of two multiple accidents, nobody gave credit to the image formed on the grid.
The pilot in the first position of the same one had no one behind and, when the traffic lights went out, the Briton started unopposed. Meanwhile, the rest of the surviving pilots he changed his intermediate tires for dry ones and waited at the end of pit-lane to be able to rejoin the track.
“I informed the team about the state of the track and they thought the rain was going to return”
The serious strategic mistake by Mercedes And when Hamilton followed his rivals a lap later, he got back on track in last position and was forced to start a hard-working comeback towards the podium. But why was Mercedes the only team to keep its driver on intermediate tires on a dry track?
The radar
The explanation lies in the weather radar image, which it indicated rain heading towards the surroundings of the circuit. But, while all the teams knew how to interpret that this would pass by without touching the Hungaroring, Mercedes thought it would rain again and kept Hamilton on the intermediate tires despite the condition of the track.
“I informed the team of the condition of the track and they thought that the rain was going to return,” said Lewis Hamilton. “I thought they had more information, until I saw everyone go to the pit-lane. But they are things that happen and from which we must learn. I have given everything, I have nothing left. We didn’t know how the weekend was going to go, but in the end everything turned out well.
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Toto wolffFor his part, he maintained that the decision had been the appropriate one taking into account the data they had at that time. «I believe 100% that it was the right decision and I stick with it. In the end you have to make the decision and judge if it is dry enough. I didn’t think that in one lap it could dry out like it did. And in the end we have to assume that it was the wrong result, but the decision was correct.
When the red flag was issued, the track was wet, but minutes later the wind and heat had almost completely dried it up. Lewis hamilton He knew it, but he put himself in the hands of the team, who erred in their appreciation.
Dizziness
Finally, Lewis Hamilton managed to get on the podium and regain the leadership of the World Championship, but after the race he felt very unwell and did not even celebrate the podium, having to visit the doctors later.
A Mercedes spokesperson confirmed that Hamilton suffered “Mild fatigue and dizziness”While Wolff explained that he thought it was’ related to the heat and the race he had, with tons of overtaking, that’s exhausting. I think it should be fine, but it is better to be safe than sorry, “he concluded.