In the aftermath of last week’s lacklustre Brazil Grand Prix, many have questioned Mercedes’ team strategy and cried foul at the race result.
A counter-narrative has developed among some of the regular Formula One pundits, and the solidarity for declaring the final race a one-off shoot-out between the leading drivers is firming.
Foremost among this group is former racer and BBC commentator David Coulthard, who has laid out the situation and a theoretical scenario in which Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton could go head-to-head for the final round of the season.
His justification? The constructors’ and drivers’ championships have been locked down and, to be honest, we all just want to see what these guys can do.
So what’s standing in their way?
Abu Dhabi would seem like the perfect opportunity to try such a thing, although there are a lot of conditions that would need to be met. Coulthard points out that Mercedes would need both cars on the front row – not a guarantee, but pretty close to it – and be in something like some clear air during the race. This was not the case in Brazil, where the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel was a looming threat to Hamilton throughout.
Both Coulthard and James Allen point out the precedent for Mercedes running different strategies for their drivers, although at both the Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix in 2014 the number of pitstops remained the same, while the drivers were given the option to try an alternate sequence of soft and hard tyres (again, something that was not possible in Brazil due to the high wear-rate).
Unfortunately, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since these races, and most of it you’d have to be a Bear Grylls-type to wade into.
Since the tensions of the Monaco, Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix of last year, Mercedes has been far more conservative on strategy and made every effort to put the leading driver into the best position to protect their lead.
This, Coulthard points out, disadvantages the driver running second as he loses the ability to “undercut” the man in front, a tactic that is available to every other driver on the grid. I don’t really see anything wrong with this as a strategy, it’s just unfortunate that more often than not the only threat to the leading car is the second Mercedes.
Anyway, if you think that letting Rosberg and Hamilton take swings at each other just for one race is harmless, there are a few more factors worth considering.
Allen points out that the best racers will utilise any advantage they are given, it’s just in their DNA, and giving one side of the garage firepower with which they could pressure the team next season in the face of tensions between the drivers or fierce competition from Ferrari is a needless risk.
Granting the drivers carte blanche to determine their own strategies exposed Brawn GP to public scrutiny in 2009, when one strategy was shown to be inferior to another. Indeed, showing favouritism towards one driver runs the risk of creating another Vettel-Mark Webber situation, causing a fissure within the team, and it’s an approach that would disrupt the delicate balance that Mercedes have worked so hard to maintain for the last three years.
It’s also easy to envisage a situation where Mercedes agree to let their drivers race each other only for one to follow the other around for the entire race, making a farce of the whole situation and ultimately validating the team’s original approach.
The current approach has helped both Hamilton and Rosberg win races throughout the last two seasons that they might not have under different circumstances. It’s stabilised a team that could have self-combusted many times, and delivered Hamilton two world titles and 21 victories so far. Indeed, Mercedes may break the record for maximum percentage of possible points scored during a season at the final race, an unbelievable feat and one that by itself proves the virtue of their attitude to racing.
Without changing the rules of play between this season and the last, we’ve enjoyed two fairly different championships.
Last season’s title was as close as it was because Rosberg was regularly taking pole position, but Hamilton was occasionally able to convert his race pace into victories by jumping Rosberg at the start or overtaking him on the track. Hamilton’s early run of pole positions this season has seen the championship stabilise and justify his place as rightful world champion.
Rosberg’s late resurgence in qualifying has thrown a cat among the pigeons and disrupted the media’s pro-Hamilton camp, but the truth of the matter is Mercedes’ current approach to driver management is about as fair as it can possibly be, and Mercedes shouldn’t change things – even if only for one race – to satisfy a driver’s ego. To do so only encourages tantrums from the other, and the cycle continues.
At the end of the day, Abu Dhabi presents the same challenge it always has – may the fastest man win. I’m confident he will.
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