Lewis Hamilton’s pit stop in the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix wasn’t the only strategic blunder that had a Mercedes hand in it. They committed a few more and had their arch rivals in the mix as well. Yes, I am referring to the many irrelevant changes that the F1 Strategy Group proposed in the build up to the race in the Principality. (Read: Formula1 Is Cruel)
At the offset, their objective seems clear to me – to make the cars lap nearly 10 seconds faster in the seasons to come. One that most fans would agree with as well! I will give credit where it is due – they are attempting to crawl back those lost seconds by proposing to introduce wider tyres and re-fueling. While I understand the technical side of Formula1, it isn’t my strength, so I will leave this for the experts and their views.
But the crucial objective that the F1 Strategy Group missed out was that of stabilizing the sport by reducing costs and distributing income among the mid-field team equitably so. But why would they, after all, this would mean a reduction of their earnings after all. (Read: Your Chance To Buy An F1 Team)
The F1 Strategy Group has offered a veiled stability plan by offering to run a third car should an existing team drop off the grid and by deciding to study whether ‘customer cars’ is the way forward for the sport. In this case, the word sport is only meant to define the have-nots i.e. the mid-field teams who don’t get preferential payment to race in Formula1. (Read: Give Everyone Mercedes Engines)
In a special mid-week episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Rishi and I speak about the ‘strategy of errors’ unleashed on us by the F1 Strategy Group. Tune in!
The Inside Line F1 Podcast is now available on various platforms and I would welcome you to choose your platform to listen to the humour that we add to the otherwise serious and complex sport of Formula1. And while our podcast frequency is weekly, come ‘like‘ the Inside Line F1 Podcast on Facebook and on Google+ for frequent humorous updates from the world of Formula1.
If you are an Apple user, you can subscribe to the Inside Line F1 Podcast on the iTunes Podcast Store or via our RSS feed (for Android/Windows/Blackberry users – You will need a Podcast player!). The Inside Line F1 Podcast is also available on TuneIn Radio.
The Inside Line Formula1 Podcast is produced and hosted by Rishi Kapoor and Kunal Shah. Follow us on Twitter and on our Soundcloud, DailyMotion, Spreaker, MixCloud and YouTube channels.