Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reveals Lewis Hamilton regret after Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | F1 | Sport

Mercedes “missed an opportunity” to salvage more points for Lewis Hamilton, according to team principal Toto Wolff. Wolff said the Silver Arrows could have pitted Hamilton earlier during the virtual safety car period before the pit lane entry was closed.

He said the failure to do this certainly “cost us a couple of positions” as Hamilton was forced to pit during green flag conditions.

Wolff said: “Today’s race was the reflection of where we currently stand. The performance gaps seemed to be similar in qualifying and the race, and clearly, there is a lot of work for us to do in order to get into the fight at the front. George managed his race well and scored the maximum we could have hoped for today without any incidents ahead of him.

“For Lewis, it was always going to be a difficult afternoon from P15. The first Safety Car came too early to run to the end on medium, so we stayed out like other cars that started on Hard; then we missed the opportunity to box just before the pit lane closed under the VSC, which cost us a couple of positions.

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“I was keeping up with George and putting in some decent lap times considering how old the hard tyres at the end.

“We were unlucky with how the VSC played out at the end but I was giving it everything. Yesterday made the weekend so much harder and I take that on my shoulders.”