Lewis Hamilton has criticised the Mercedes strategy that almost derailed his race at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Hamilton was told by team-mate George Russell to marginally slow down in the dying laps of the race, to give Russell DRS and hold off Carlos Sainz‘s challenge behind him.
However, the move proved to be ill-advised as the Ferrari driver ended up overtaking Russell and then piled pressure on Hamilton during the closing stages of the race.
Following the breakdown in tactics, Hamilton was critical of the decision and claimed it made no sense for his team to make that call.
‘When they suggested it to me, I knew that they obviously thought of it from the last race but it made no sense.’ Hamilton said.
‘I needed to get as far clear as possible. I was on my way, around two seconds ahead and they asked me to give George DRS and I had to come off the gas down the straight.
‘Then he got overtaken by Sainz. He then got past George and he was right on my tail which was not ideal.’
Hamilton finished the race in 5th place, with Sainz failing to overtake him in the end in 6th, Russell a further place back in 7th.
The comments come after a difficult race for Hamilton and his team, after the two British drivers clashed over the radio following two near collisions with each other in the early stages of the grand prix.
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
