Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Lauda slams 'unacceptable' Mercedes error

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Niki Lauda says Mercedes' error which cost Lewis Hamilton victory in the Monaco Grand Prix was "unacceptable".

Hamilton was brought in to the pits under a late safety car having enjoyed a substantial lead throughout the race, but with no other drivers pitting Hamilton rejoined in third and was unable to overtake in the closing laps. Mercedes chairman Lauda says the team got the decision "completely wrong" and will have to investigates how the error happened.

"Honestly, I really feel sorry [for Hamilton]," Lauda said. "I apologised, even to his engineers over there, because this is for me unacceptable. Nevertheless, Toto [Wolff], I gave him the order to analyse it properly and see where the mistake. But absolutely the decision to bring him in was completely wrong."

Asked for his thoughts on what caused the mistake, Lauda says too many people were talking at a crucial time.

"I don’t know. Confusion in the overhead. I would say, a lot of people talking and the wrong decision, very simple to say. It was not necessary, this is my view of it, and that’s it."

When it was put to him that Ferrari wasn't a threat, Lauda replied: "Fully agree.

"I was listen to the talks, the talks were going forward and backwards and there was too much confusion. In the end it was the wrong decision, no question about it."

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.