Lewis Hamilton speaks out after public criticism of Mercedes decision in Monaco

27 May 2024 , 13:08

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Lewis Hamilton was not happy with Mercedes' strategy in Monaco (Image: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton has explained his tetchy "I told you guys" comment to Mercedes in the early stages of the Monaco Grand Prix.

That was his message over the radio to his race engineer Peter Bonnington after the race was red-flagged on the opening lap. Everyone grabbed a free opportunity to change tyres when Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg crashed out of the Grand Prix.

Most of the field had started on the medium tyres. So they could change to the hards, fulfil the requirement to use two separate compounds during the race and go to the end on the most durable set of rubber available.

However, Hamilton was one of just a few drivers who had begun the race on the hard tyre. That meant they had to switch to the mediums during the stoppage and it was clear the seven-time F1 champion was concerned that the strategy had put him on the back foot.

In the end, it turned out the pace of the race was so slow that even the medium tyres made it to the end of the race. Hamilton's team-mate George Russell proved it was possible by finishing fifth, having completed more than 70 laps on the mediums without losing the place to Max Verstappen behind.

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Hamilton did not know that was going to be possible when he made that radio comment to Mercedes. Explaining the situation afterwards, the 39-year-old said he had been overruled by the team in terms of tyre strategy and, in the moment, felt like he was going to pay for it.

He said: "Well, I think it was going to be long either way, whichever tyre you were on, but I wanted to start on the [medium]. I felt that something was going to happen at the beginning of the race and normally that would create an opportunity to switch over to the hards and go away to the end.

Hamilton was no pleased about Mercedes' tyre strategy but admitted it worked out in the end (Getty Images)

"But I think at the end of the day everyone drove so slow that it didn't make any difference." Later in the race, Hamilton was also irked by the team's failure to tell him that Verstappen had pitted ahead and that he should push hard to undercut the Dutchman. Boss Toto Wolff admitted his team had got it wrong.

He said: "That was a miscommunication first between us on the pit wall. We got that wrong, it should have been an 'out-lap critical' in trying to undercut. But then there was a debate whether any out-lap would be enough on the new tyre, so the message he got was at best confusing, but probably wrong.

"It should have been an 'out-lap critical'. The worry in the background was if we stretched the tyre in a single lap then what would happen later? But in summary it was the wrong message to Lewis, and this is a team sport."

Daniel Moxon