Lewis Hamilton was critical of Mercedes’ strategy after nearly derailing his Japanese Grand Prix in the dying laps.
On the suggestion of George Russell, the seven-time world champion was told to slow down marginally to give his team-mate DRS and, in theory, aid him in holding off the threat of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
But the move backfired as Sainz easily got past Russell and then put Hamilton under pressure for the final two laps.
Afterwards, Hamilton said: “When they suggested it to me, I knew that they obviously thought of it from the last race but it made no sense.
“I needed to get as far clear as possible. I was on my way, around two seconds ahead and they asked me to give George DRS and I had to come off the gas down the straight.
“Then he got overtaken by Sainz. He then got past George and he was right on my tail which was not ideal.”
It proved a scrappy race for the two Mercedes drivers, who briefly squabbled over the race radio, as Max Verstappen returned to winning ways by some margin.
The Dutchman, after a difficult race last week in Singapore, won by 20 seconds ahead of Lando Norris and McLaren team0mate Oscar Piastri.
