General
Palmer: "After the second Safety Car Mercedes shouldn't have won the race"
- GPblog.com
After Max Verstappen had dropped out early in the race, Mercedes seemed to be heading for an easy one-two. Thanks to safety cars it became exciting again at the end when that other Red Bull Racing youngster knocked at the door. But whose fault it was that it went wrong in the end.
Jolyon Palmer puts the blame in his analysis for Formula1.com at least in the corner of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. They both made a mistake that cost them a top result in the end.
"Not pitting their cars meant Mercedes kept track position over Albon, who probably would have done the opposite to the German team at the pit stops and stayed out if the leaders pitted. But as Albon proved, fresh soft tyres at the end of the race were a big advantage, and they should have been punished for it."
Hamilton did Bottas a favor
"With the second Safety Car, they potentially shouldn’t have won the race, had it not been for Lewis Hamilton spinning Albon off when the Red Bull man passed the Brit at Turn 4. This was the undoing of Hamilton’s race ultimately, and it was a moment of misjudgement to fight to the bitter end against Albon, who had made the move stick around the outside."