Montoya believes that Mercedes made a mistake with their strategy.

Montoya believes that Mercedes made a mistake with their strategy.

      Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that the Mercedes team is partly to blame for George Russell losing to Lewis Hamilton in the battle for victory in Barcelona. On the F1TV broadcast, Montoya stated that Mercedes made a mistake by conducting George's first pit stop too early.

      Juan Pablo Montoya: "I was really surprised by how Mercedes reacted to Lewis's strategy. I think they put themselves in a pretty difficult position because at the end of the race, George had to run over 30 laps on one set of tires.

      If you switch to a two-stop strategy, you shouldn't stop on lap 15. They should have tried to stretch it to lap 21 or 22. Then the race would have been significantly easier. And if they had done that, it would have been much harder for Lewis. However, when all the others also made their first pit stop early and stretched their stints, that opened up a strategic opportunity for Hamilton.

      I think Mercedes put George in a tough spot with the early pit stop. He was the first in this chain of early stops. Additionally, the tire degradation was too high. Yes, he gained a little advantage at the start of the second stint, but ultimately that decision only complicated his race."

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Montoya believes that Mercedes made a mistake with their strategy.

Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that the Mercedes team is partly to blame for George Russell losing to Lewis Hamilton in the battle for victory in Barcelona.