LEWIS HAMILTON : Mercedes apologise after Monaco GP error

Mercedes apologised to Lewis Hamilton for what
they admitted was the strategic error that cost
him victory in the Monaco Grand Prix.
Hamilton was leading when he was called in for
fresh tyres during a late safety car period, dropping
him to third.
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: "The answer is
we got the maths wrong.
"That one goes on the team and I apologise. He's
a great leader and a great driver. I am sure he will
understand sometimes we make errors."
The mistake handed victory to Hamilton's team-
mate Nico Rosberg and also cost Hamilton a
position to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
It cut the world champion's advantage in the
championship over Rosberg to 10 points.
Hamilton was visibly distraught afterwards, but
refused to blame the team for the error.
After crossing the finish line, Hamilton slowed to a
stop at the Portier corner - which faces out to the
Mediterranean Sea - seemingly to gather his
thoughts.
He then completed the lap and drew up to the
podium, where he knocked over his 'third place'
parking board with the front of his Mercedes.
Wolff said the error was made because of concerns
that the tyres on the Mercedes were losing
temperature and that they might be vulnerable in
the event Vettel stopped under the safety car for
fresh tyres.
The decision was made more difficult, he said,
because the GPS tracking system that shows the
positions of all the cars on track was not available
in Monaco.
"We thought we had a gap which we didn't have
when the safety car came out and Lewis was
behind the safety car and the calculation was
simply wrong.
"We expected to have a couple of seconds more."
Wolff refused to say who had made the final
decision to pit Hamilton, who exited the pits
almost side by side with Vettel, but had to cede
position because the Ferrari got to the designated
marker line fractionally ahead.
"It was the team's decision," Wolff said. "We are all
in this together, we make decisions together and it
is not one person to blame and we win and lose
together and that is clear.
"From a common sense overview, disregarding the
data I agree it looks like a risk. But we have to
follow the data; that is how the sport works. But
the simple answer is the numbers were wrong."