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Wolff confirmed that the plan was to split the strategies of the two Mercedes, although the team had expected to also bring Hamilton back into the pits at some stage.
“In our strategy meeting in the morning, actually the drivers brought up whether there was an offset strategy possible for the guy running second, because if you put them on the same tyre, this is probably how the race is going to end,” he explained.
“So picking up on the suggestion, we decided that the second-placed driver would run an offset strategy with the hard tyre in the middle.
“We weren’t quite sure whether one stop would make it, probably rather thinking it would be a two, also because of a lack of data on the hard, and this is exactly how it panned out.
“Obviously both of them drove a brilliant race, both of them would have deserved to win the race, and in that instance, the Safety Car swung in the favour of one driver.”