Mercedes have justified their strategy call at the F1 Japanese Grand Prix♏.

The tyre strategy failed to pay off, with 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton finishing ninth and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:George Russell seventh.

The first-lap crash for Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon presented an opportu⭕nity for every team to find an advantage with the strategy at Suzuka.

• 2024 F1 Japanese Grand Prix - Race Results from Round 4

Mercede🎐s switched their drivers to hard compounds after the restart which resulted in Hamilton asking to “change the strategy” via team radio.

Hamilton’s lack of pace even saw 🌌him allow team꧋mate Russell to pass him.

Mercedes changed their d♛rivers to another set of hards, then switched to medium⛦s at the end.

A Mercedes spokesman explained t🍬heir decision-making afterwards: “With our tyre allocation (2 Hard, 1 Medium), we were able to give ourselves the possibility of looking ﷺat either a one or a two stop after the red flag.

“Hence the Hard tyre restart.

“Ultimately✱, as the race progressed, the tyre degradation showed that the two-𒉰stop was going to be the quickest way to the flag.

“Our second and third stints showed solid pace compared to those around us, including tജhe McLarens and the Ferraris.

🐠“꧙We knew that Suzuka would not be our strongest track though and, with time lost being overtaken on the offset strategy (one of the downsides of this strategy), we couldn’t make it back to P6 which was likely the maximum today.”

Ferrariꦦ, notably, had greater success by committing early to a two-stop strategy𝐆.

Carlos Sainz finished third, and Charles Lecle൲rc fourth.

🍌Red Bull secured a 1-2 finish (their third i𝐆n four grands prix this year) with Max Verstappen beating Sergio Perez.

Verstappen told Sainz afterwards in the cooldow𒁃n room that committing🀅 to a two-stop strategy was optimal for Red Bull.

Mercedes, however, were left scratching their heads after a disappointing di🍬splay in Japan.