Hamilton, who started on soft tyres, attempted to sweep around the outside of both Russell and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen, who were on mediums, at Turn 1. 

But the Merce𒉰des duo ended up making wheel-to-wheel contact that sent Hamilton spinning off into the grave⛦l and out of the race, while Russell had to pit and dropped to the very back of the field. 

Mercedes explained that the decisioꦡn to split strategies with their cars was influenced by the unexpected mandated maximum tyre stint life for Sunday’s grand prix, which left Hamilton on the back foot. 

“Of all of the drivers on the grid, Lewis had the most limited options available in terms of r🃏ace tyres, and in particular, in terms of the mediu𓃲m,” Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said in the team’s post-Qatar debrief video. 

“This was in part due to the laps that ♓we did on Friday 🙈morning before we had any awareness that there might be an issue with the tyres. 

“Now, the medium that he was going 𓆏to have to run was so short on life it was actually very similar in range to the soft. Given that George got a very good start with the soft the day before, it also worked very well on the Safety Car restarts, so we elected to start Lewis on soft tyre because of that better grip off the line, and the fact that there was unlikely to be any downsides i😼n terms of range.”

Mercedes admitted they had discussed the possibi𒐪lity that Ham🦋ilton could have got ahead of Russell by the first corner, but they opted against imposing team orders and instead allowed things to play out naturally. 

“We discusse🌳d the start tyre choice with both drivers on Sunday morning and there was always going to be a chance that Lewis on the soft ꧂tyre was going to get a better start and overtake George before Turn 1,” Shovlin continued. 

“So that was🐎 alwayജs considered, but they were aware they were on different strategies, it was important that they didn’t lose time racing each other and that was clear, but we weren’t imposing team orders in the race.” 

Shovlin went on to describe what happened at Turn 1 as being “simply a 🐎mistake”. 

Would a clear instructi𒀰on for Russell not to challenge Hamilton in sucꦆh a situation have prevented this?

Granted, the hectic and unpredictable nature of a granಌd prix start, where so many variables are at play, would have made orchestrating such a team🔥 order incredibly complicated. 

Hamilton was the driver who had more room to be flexible with. A💝nd as he acknowledged by putting his hands up and accepting the blame after the race, the seven-time world champion made a slight misjudgement that had costly consequences꧒ for both Mercedes.  

Russell, who ende🐟d up sandwiched between Hamilton and Verstappen, could do little to avoid the collision. 

However, aware that Hamilton had got 🌺the better initial launch, Russell did make a slight movement to cover off his teammate in the second phase of the start before the braking zone. 

Had the Merc🔜edes drivers been told to work together at the start, Russell, theoretically at least, could have tucked in behind Verstappen, giving Ham💛ilton more room on the outside to play with. 

It feels exactly like the kind of thing Red Bull, being the slick operators that they are, would have pulled off had the roles been reversed and they found themselves in a position to launch a 🍸two-pronged attack on a single Mercedes.

The fact Mercedes had discussed the li🍷kelihood of Hamilton getting the jump on Russell, combined with Russell having knowledge of what was possible on softs given he started on that very compound one day before, made the whole situation ಌmore bewildering. 

There was an opportunity for Hamilton to overtake Verstappen and take the lead. It may have been Mercedes’ best chance of beating Red Bull and, in many regards, they had absolutely nothing to los🎃e in going for it. 

Had Hamilton been able to use his faster tyres to halt Verstappen’s progress, at least for a couple of laps, it coulꦜd have put him, or indeed Russell, in with a shot of victory. 

That prospect does not seem totally beyond the realms of possibility given that McLaren’s 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Oscar Piastri 𓄧finished less than five seconds behind Verstappen at the chequered flag. 

Russell reckoned he could have challenged Verstappen for the win without the T﷽urn 1 collision. After all, he demonstrated str🌼ong pace during an impressive recovery back to fourth. 

“We believe that 🧜we were on pace, if not faster, than McLaren," Russell said. “Seeing that Piastri finished so close to Max was really quite surprising.”&♏nbsp;

Shovlin said: “The early predictions were comin🅰g in at the back of the points, but not scoring many. As the race went on, those🅘 predictions got better and better. Ultimately, they ended up indicating that he would finish fourth place. 

“Well, what changed that? He was able to overtake, he was able to get through some key cars early on and also o𒀰nce he got into free air, we could see that the race pace was actually really good. That was the thing that allowed him to make up so many places.”

With the benefit of hindsight, it feels like the dramatic crash could (and should) have been avoided. It will go down as a classic case of ‘what could have been’.&n🃏bsp;

The collision was a massive shame and may have ended up inadvertently robbing Mercedes of their b𓂃est chance to record a w꧅in this season.