Leader for 70 laps with more than seventeen seconds ahead of Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton was nevertheless ordered to stop at the pits once the Safety Car came on track… However, Nico Rosberg did not stop and took the opportunity to overtake his teammate.<\/p>\n
On Sky Sports, Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team director, did not try to hide his team’s blunder: \u00ab Indeed… We lost the Grand Prix for Lewis due to our mistake. We thought the gap [at the time of Hamilton’s pit stop] was bigger. Then, he said his tire temperatures had dropped, and he had no more grip. We should not have taken this risk \u00bb.<\/p>\n
Toto Wolff will now have to endure what is expected to be a heated explanation… I’m really sorry, he repeated, it was an easy win for Lewis and we ruined it. We have nothing else to do but to apologize to Lewis, over and over again\u2026<\/p>\n
Niki Lauda seemed even more downcast after the race: \u00ab I am really terribly confused, I apologized to Lewis’s engineers because such an error cannot be accepted. There was no need to stop, there was a lot of confusion. \u00bb<\/p>\n
The Virtual Safety Car, deployed for three seconds before the entry of the Safety Car, may have disrupted the team’s predictions for Hamilton’s pit stop. Nevertheless, the glaring mistake will leave its mark this season.<\/p>\n
\nTo all our disappointed fans out there, we feel your pain. We got it wrong today and that’s the simple fact. We will grow stronger from this<\/p>\n