Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits he was surprised by some of Williams' tactics during the British Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa took the lead at the start of the race and Valtteri Bottas overtook Lewis Hamilton for second place during a safety car restart early on. With Bottas looking the quicker of the two in the first stint, the two drivers were told not to race each other, and Hamilton managed to jump both to take the lead at his first pit stop.

Wolff admits it is not easy to make strategic decisions when leading a race with a car that is under pressure, but believes Williams should have at least split its options.

"Sometimes I had a little bit of deja vu like us in 2013 when we found ourselves in P1 and P2 and you are surprised and you don’t want to risk the team result," Wolff said. "It’s very difficult to expect bold calls and probably Valtteri would have built a gap if they had let him go.

"That was one thing and the other thing was that when the rain hit we split the strategies with Lewis pitting and Nico [Rosberg] staying out and they didn’t do that. But it’s so easy from the outside to say what they should have done. I’m not in there and they were probably caught on the wrong foot."

And Wolff admits Mercedes attempted to trick Williams with a fake pit stop early in the race, which he knew had failed due to a message from his wife, Susie.

"We know that Williams has more difficulties in keeping the tyres until the end and we knew that triggering an early stop on lap 18 would make them think if they were able to do that and trigger them into a pit stop that would have caused them problems at the end. So it was a bit of a game, which didn’t function. My wife sent me a Whatsapp saying: 'You guys think you can fool us? Hahaha'. So it was worth at least the entertainment."

Click here for F1i's driver ratings from the British Grand Prix

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

 

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.

Recent Posts

Aston Martin says performance shortfall led to Fallows exit

Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough has shed some light on why the team’s former…

2 hours ago

FIA clamps down on plank loophole after Red Bull complaint

The FIA has issued a pivotal Technical Directive to F1 teams ahead of this weekend’s…

3 hours ago

F1 drivers blindsided by race director Wittich’s sudden exit

The abrupt removal last week of FIA race director Niels Wittich with just three races…

5 hours ago

McLaren relaxes ‘papaya rules’: Norris and Piastri free to race

Oscar Piastri has confirmed that McLaren’s team orders—dubbed the "Papaya Rules"—have been largely relaxed, giving…

6 hours ago

Cheers to the forever young pure racer Jacques Laffite

The forever young Jacques Laffite turns 81 today, but the years haven't aged this pure…

7 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Wednesday's build-up in pictures

The neon lights of Las Vegas are set to illuminate the Formula 1 world once…

8 hours ago