ec3b92b7219919a92273e673550830386d118601

Mercedes Still "Don't Fully Understand" What Went Wrong during VSC

18:29, 25 Mar 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Mercedes have admitted that they still don't fully comprehend want went wrong during the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) laps, causing Lewis Hamilton to lose first place to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who didn't look back from that point and won the first race of the season.

Hamilton had already come in for fresh tyres before Romain Grosjean parked his Haas on the track, causing a Virtual Safety Car situation. Sebastian Vettel, who was in first but hadn't come in yet, took advantage of the situation and pitted while the field was forced to slow down. The German emerged from the pit and was still in first, leaving Hamilton with a lot of questions over the team radio.

“They don’t fully understand it still, so they couldn’t give me an exact reason as to why it was the way it was,” Hamilton said after the race.

“So, I can’t really say how I feel about it."

“In the race, I had extra tools, I could have been further ahead by the first pitstop."

“There were so many good things we could have done, but if one thing is telling you one thing, and you think you’re doing it to the book, within the limits, then there’s nothing you can do.”

Mercedes leave the land Down Under with a second and eighth place finish and will be looking to make up for it in Bahrain, where the Grand Prix will be held in two weeks.