Formula 1 Mexican GP

Mercedes explains tow plan for Hamilton into Mexico Turn 1

Mercedes planned for Valtteri Bottas to help Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton by giving him a tow off the line in Mexico, only for Max Verstappen to overtake both cars.

Luke Smith

Edited: Nov 11, 2021, 10:18 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

After trailing Red Bull in practice, Mercedes turned the tables by taking a front row lockout in qualifying as Bottas pipped Hamilton to pole.

But Verstappen managed to sweep into the lead from third on the grid after a late-braking move around the outside at Turn 1, gaining an advantage that he converted into a dominant race win to extend his points lead over Hamilton in the title battle.

Hamilton noted after the race that Bottas had “left the door open” for Verstappen to pass around the outside, while the Dutchman admitted his overtake had been “really on the edge”.

Speaking in Mercedes’ post-race debrief, motorsport strategy director James Vowles explained how the fastest Turn 1 approach of the year in Mexico made it important to plan out a strategy.

Mercedes had intended for Bottas to make use of his grid position advantage to help give Hamilton a tow to protect him from Verstappen behind.

“The strategy and approach to Turn 1 was quite straightforward here,” Vowles explained. “For Valtteri, if he had a good start, he was going to let Lewis tow along behind him and make sure that he covered off that threat from Verstappen.

“The starts, as they turned out, was that Valtteri had a slightly worse start than both Verstappen and Lewis - not a lot, around about four metres or so, but it was sufficient that Lewis wasn’t able to tuck up behind.

“More so, Verstappen's start being good meant he was alongside Valtteri very, very quickly. The result of that is they ended up three-wide incredibly quickly and early on during the run down into Turn 1.”

With the cars three-wide, Verstappen was able to take the optimal racing line into Turn 1, leaving both Bottas and Hamilton struggling with less grip. But Vowles did not feel that Verstappen’s line was enough to have led to such a big difference under braking.

“Even so the differences in braking should have been a few metres, not perhaps the difference that you saw,” Vowles said.

“Ultimately the drivers braked where they thought they could. If you saw Verstappen's comments afterwards, it is quite clear that he was going in there guessing and hoping for the best, and it worked out for him.

“We ended up losing out there as a result of it, and more so as we went into it, as you saw other cars perhaps locking up - [Daniel] Ricciardo being one of them, [then] contact happened and Valtteri got taken out and pushed to the back of the grid.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

Vowles said that Red Bull had “a much better car” than Mercedes in the race, but felt there could have been more strategic options had the team held on to its advantage with both cars.

“Had we got away and been in first and second, I think there was a good chance that we would have been able to defend against the Red Bulls all race,” Vowles said.

“Conversely, if we were first but we had both Red Bulls tucked behind us in second and third, I think it would have been awfully difficult to hold on to the race lead. They could have stopped one car early, one car late and ultimately, we would have been a compromise with those two cars.

“Where we finished up, P2 with Lewis, was really correct based on performance sadly after the start had happened, and I am happy we held on to it.

“It was a defensive strategy we employed all race. Of course, in Valtteri's case really, he walked away with far less than he deserved. Had he not been hit in Turn 1, we really should have walked away with fourth at worst and third more realistically.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article F1 introduces ‘Brundle clause’ for bodyguards after MTS incident

Next article Masi: Alonso and Raikkonen both wrong in Austin F1 move

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 8 h

The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season

‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 9 h

‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes

BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

10 h

BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC

The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

12 h

The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down

Feature

Discover prime content

How seizing every chance – and making it happen – keeps Pierre Gasly’s fire burning

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How seizing every chance – and making it happen – keeps Pierre Gasly’s fire burning

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Ronald Vording

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Filip Cleeren

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts