The Mercedes team principal explained his team’s call to leave Lewis Hamilton on medium tires in the lead while Red Bull pitted Max Verstappen for softs under a safety car late in the Zandvoort race.
Under the same safety car, Mercedes pitted George Russell for the softs, putting him behind Verstappen on the track in third place, to split their strategy for the sprint to the finish.
The call backfired on Hamilton, who moved from first to fourth as Verstappen took the win ahead of Ferrari’s Russell and Charles Leclerc.
The result left Hamilton furious on team radio during Mercedes’ strategy call, and immediately after the race Wolff spoke to his driver to say he would explain the decision not to pit him against the apps.
Wolff sympathized with Hamilton but confirmed rather than a strategic error, Mercedes wanted to go for a risky strategy to give him a chance to fight for victory rather than settle for a conservative result.
“It’s very emotional for the driver, you’re about to race for the win and then you’ve been eaten alive, so it’s clear every emotion comes through,” Wolff said on Sky Sports F1.
“You, as a pilot in the cockpit, you are alone and you don’t see what is happening. We have been discussing in the moment, are we taking risks for the victory of the race? Yes, we are taking risks.
“He had a five lap old tire, the middle hold position was the right thing to do. In the end it didn’t work out for him, but I’d rather risk winning the race with Lewis than finish second and third.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
“Lewis was early so you always have a bit more time with the call [for those behind]. You can do two things; you can either pit Lewis and lose track position to Verstappen and leave George screwed up, or you can pit the two, screwed up. So it was worth taking the risk.
“If you do that [leave both out] you have both on an old tyre, but that would have guaranteed second and third and we wouldn’t have raced for the win with Lewis.”
Nor did Wolff think pitting the two drivers for new softs would have worked as it meant Hamilton and Russell would have been behind Verstappen on the restart and on the same tires unable to attack the Red Bull driver.
“I think Red Bull has so much straight line speed that all on the same tire there is no way to win,” he added.
“I think we can look at the positives and that’s what I just discussed with Lewis, there are so many more positives to take.
“Of course, second and fourth are boring, but we felt we had a good race car here. That’s what’s most important and you have to take risks where we are.”
