Mercedes must be careful: 'Don't compromise the championship with that'

Lewis Hamilton took the hundredth victory of his career this weekend. It took a while, as it is only the Briton's first win since Silverstone. "You get to the point where you think, is this ever gonna happen? And also when you got things like crashing into the pit wall, people go 'is this the beginning of the downfall?'" says Damon Hill in the F1 Nation Podcast.

Tom Clarkson adds: "Not only crashing into the pit wall, but the previous day he slightly misjudged coming into his pit box and you didn’t wanna be the front jackman at that particular moment. They knew they had to win, though, didn’t they? They knew they had to win this one with Max to the back. They were under pressure in some ways, the only thing they could do was win the race." Hamilton was stuck behind Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren for an extended period at the start of the race. "There was nothing Lewis could do to get by him. You start thinking, ‘Lewis, you’re going to have to start making your move at some point, when’s it going to come?'" says Clarkson.

Mercedes must be careful

"At one point Max was only five seconds behind him and you’re starting to think ‘Oh Lewis is in the warzone, he’s blocked in, he can’t go anywhere,' but he has learned incredible patience as a driver. He knows he just has to bide out the first stint and then he puts his hammer time to the metal and off he goes. Once Lewis got clear air, that five seconds got turned into twenty seconds. He was back on track," Hill continues.

Bottas' engine change came as a surprise to many, as the Finn already picked up a new engine at Monza. "Neither of these guys can afford a DNF in the next seven races. We’re now too close to the business end, you may never get that back. This is Bottas’ new Monza power unit that was playing up in Russia. I appreciate that everyone is now pushing very very hard for next year, so you’re pushing every area of it before you nail down exactly what you’re going to do. But they have to be really really careful that they don’t compromise Lewis’ championship with that," Clarkson says.