38-year-old F1 driver not happy with his team’s strategy during Brazilian GP yesterday

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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton had a very tough Sunday in Brazil and wasn’t pleased with his strategy at Interlagos yesterday.

Hamilton made his feelings clear on the team radio as the Silver Arrows attempted to limp towards the finish line.

Mercedes went into last weekend hoping to secure second place in the Constructors’ Championship with Ferrari, Aston Martin and even an in-form McLaren chasing the tens of millions in prize money that comes with it.

Lewis Hamilton also aspired to deny Red Bull a first one-two in the Drivers’ Championship with just twenty points separating him and Sergio Perez.

However, the race pace of the Mercedes left a lot to be desired and they simply couldn’t keep the car cool enough to run at their maximum capacity.

Hamilton lamented his strategy in Brazil but it could have been even worse.

Teammate George Russell was frustrated about being stuck behind his more senior teammate before his car fell even more dramatically off the pace.

He was eventually forced to retire with his car ‘at risk of imminent failure’ in the Brazilian sun.

Hamilton unhappy with Brazil strategy

After being overtaken by his championship rival Perez, Hamilton came into the pits to change onto the medium tyres.

The soft compound was far and away the best tyre to be on, but every driver has to use at least two different tyres during a dry race.

Hamilton’s pace suffered even further and when commenting on the strategy Mercedes went with in Brazil simply said: “Should have gone to the hard tyre man.”

Very few drivers risked the hard tyre as they had limited opportunities to run it during the only free practice session of the weekend and projections showed it was going to be really slow.

However, Hamilton was just looking for something different from his car that might have given him a chance to compete with his normal rivals.

Instead, the likes of Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll had no problem overtaking Hamilton who will hope his fortunes change in Las Vegas.

He admitted he can’t wait until he never has to drive the W14 car ever again after Sunday’s race.

Russell will likely echo those thoughts as he looks set to finish eighth in the standings unless he can outscore Charles Leclerc by 14 points in the final two races.