Mercedes scrutinised as F1 pole challenge falters: “Was it the right or wrong decision?”

Former Aston Martin F1 strategist Bernie Collins has questioned Mercedes’ decision not to run Lewis Hamilton on the soft tyre in practice when analysing his performance in sprint qualifying.

Hamilton secured sixth on the grid for the Saturday sprint race, two-tenths behind Mercedes teammate George Russell.

The seven-time world champion made a mistake at Turn 3 before encountering traffic in the final couple of corners.

Hamilton’s final SQ3 effort was the first time he had run on the softs this weekend in Austria - a decision Mercedes might regret, according to Collins.

“Potentially. But they made some different decisions to everyone else, if we are being harsh,” she said on Sky’s F1 coverage.

“Lewis didn’t run the soft. The only driver not to run the soft in P1. He ran the hard. So, going into sprint qualy, he has to make a step to the medium then a step to the soft.

“Arguably, these are the best drivers in the world so you can make that step. But nobody else felt that they could… When they go back and look at it, was it the right or wrong decision? We never get the right answer.”

Once again, Mercedes showed impressive pace in practice before faltering when it mattered.

However, it was still an encouraging performance for Mercedes as they toppled Ferrari.

Former W Series driver Naomi Schiff feels like Hamilton was on the back foot immediately.

“We all had a higher expectation for Mercedes today,” she explained. “But, from the get go with that moment on the exit of Turn 1, they were in a spiral of chasing their tails.

“They were under the thumb of having to react. You’ve got to put a new set of mediums on for SQ1, a new set for SQ2, and a new set of new or used for SQ3. But, you can’t put on a second set of mediums. He lost the peak moment of that tyre. There was traffic, as well.

“From then on, you are probably just frazzled. He had a moment on the exit of Turn 3, besides the turbulent air. It didn’t come together. I wonder how much performance is left in it, if they had the perfect run.

“But did they put themselves in that position by putting themselves not in the optimal position, coming in more comfortable with the general set-up. I wonder if they are struggling with set-up as well. We saw Lewis have quite a few moments in FP1, as well. I don’t know if they are fully happy with the balance of the car.”

Collins also questioned Mercedes' early running on the hard tyre and how much the work they did on that compound "translates" to the softer rubber.

“[Hamilton] didn’t get the first run on a medium. The second run, your out-lap is not the same because it’s a used tyre, effectively. Q2, lots goes wrong. It escalates," Collins concluded.

“He was the first car on track in SQ3. That was the best chance to do the out-lap largely as he wanted to. They will be looking at how they could have improved coming into this weekend.

“Their set-up for the start of FP1 was really good, but on a hard tyre. We don’t know how much that translates."