Mercedes chose not to use team orders during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton both opted for new rubber during a safety car period, but the former went to the hard tyre, while his team-mate opted for the faster mediums.
Hamilton passed Carlos Sainz on the mediums and found himself behind Russell on the hards. Despite this, Mercedes chose not to favor the driver on the faster tyres. “First of all, you have to keep in mind that the safety car was quite early, so it was going to be a very long final stint,” Elliott said in a YouTube video from Mercedes about that choice.
“While theoretically Lewis came out on the faster tyre, the medium, towards the end of the stint the hard could have been a much faster tyre,” continued the technical director of the Silver Arrows. In short, although Hamilton was on the faster tire than Russell, Mercedes was unsure which tire would be the better of the bunch in the long run.
As a result, no team orders were used and, according to Elliott, this is in line with Mercedes’ general policy. “We have always let our drivers race. That’s just the way we’ve worked as a team and we didn’t think we’d be in a position where favoring one driver over another would put us in a better position in the race – so we just let them race .’
Mercedes gambled on hards for Hamilton at the start
Remarkable was the choice to let Hamilton start on the hards. Only Logan Sargeant (Williams) did the same. According to Elliott, the gamble was worth it. “Given where Lewis started (P7, ed.), we thought there was a potential profit we could make by fitting the hard tyre. If we had the safety car at the right time, Lewis would have had a real advantage as he would have had a much shorter effective pit stop time.
That right moment had been the point where the drivers who started on the mediums had already completed their pit stops. This neutralization, caused by Lance Stroll’s stalling, occurred just too early for that. Charles Leclerc went in earlier, but also started on the softs. “As a result, he had to take the full stop time, while those who started on the harder tires had the advantage of pitting during the safety car,” said Elliott.
