Despite a complete loss of form from Lewis Hamilton during the final weekend of the 2023 Formula One season, Mercedes scraped home to finish just three points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.
Yet it was within the gift of Ferrari to try and nobble George Russell over the closing laps forcing him to fall from third to fourth and drop the three points which was the final gap.
Perez late surge creates jeopardy for Russell
Red Bull who have been the masters of managing tyre wear all season ran Sergio Perez long after his second stop meaning the Mexican driver would have extra pace over the closing laps of the race.
He moved quickly through the field Checo clipped Lando Norris while making an overtaking move on Norris at the chicane along the back straight. The stewards decided the Mexican had been too aggressive and awarded him with a five second penalty.
Perez lap times projected he would catch and overtake George Russell and be close to the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who was in P2 in the closing laps. This would have seen the Mercedes driver fall from his third position losing three points in the process which was the crucial difference come the end of the race in deciding which team finished second behind Red Bull.
Having overtaking Russell Perez was informed of his penalty and set about chasing down Leclerc knowing his place on th podium depended on him overtaking the Ferrari.
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Sergio realised Ferrari tactic
Despite dropping Russell some three seconds in the two laps after he passed the Mercedes driver, Perez began to suffer from overheating tyres and it soon became clear he would not be able to make a move on Leclerc. The Ferrari driver realised his best hope of clinching P2 for his team was to try and pull Sergio along with DRS and the tow, so he slowed over two seconds with three laps remaining.
Even this was not enough to produce a five second gap from Perez to Russell and so Leclerc allowed Perez to overtake him on the final lap.
As it transpired, Perez took the chequered flag just 3.9 seconds ahead of Russell and was duly relegated behind the Mercedes driver to P4 when the classified results were adjusted.
When asked if he realised what Leclerc was attempting, Perez said: “Yes, I did. But I mean, I was surprised that I thought Charles was going to hold back George in the end, you know, a bit in the final sector because I think I finished 1.1 seconds from George and thought he was going to hold him back.
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Leclerc task too difficult
“It was quite easy to do in the final sector, but maybe he didn’t have the full information.”
Leclerc did indeed know exactly what was required bu as his team boss explained it would have been too complicated to try and judge a five second gap to Perez whilst retaining his second place post the Checo penalty.
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur explained following the race he didn’t believe his driver could have done better in trying to ensure Perez finished the race between LeClerc and Russell once the penalty had been applied.
“Too fair, I don’t think so,” Vasseur said when asked about Leclerc’s tactics. “That’s because you could imagine, to block Russell, then you have also to be sure that Perez is in between you and Russell.
“If you want to block Russell, it’s a matter of hundreds of seconds. I’m not a big fan of this.”
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Russell praises “clean battle”
Vasseur then attempted to claim the moral Hugh ground suggesting it might have been ‘unfair’ to attempt to back George Russell up.
“We did our best in a fair way when we let Perez go, to give him the DRS, to try to help us, but too much would have been too much.”
Russell praised Leclerc for making sure they had a “clean battle” and his team boss Toto Wolff also commended the Moneqasgue for his sportsmanship.
“Perez, for quite some time, wasn’t really on the radar,” Wolff admitted. “We knew that they probably couldn’t hang out the one-stop when he was ahead and then kick him out 10 or 11 seconds behind us.
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Wolff remarks on Leclerc “character”
“At that moment, we only concentrated on ourselves and said, ‘Let’s extract the quickest race for George’, bearing in mind you need to manage the surfaces. If not, you’re falling off a cliff.
“We knew that we had to be within five seconds of Perez, but Leclerc was so far ahead that we didn’t think he could manage these gaps in order to maybe keep us behind.
“At the end, he [Leclerc] could have pulled the handbrake on in the last sector and he didn’t. I think that shows the character of a driver.”
In reality there was little moral difference between Leclerc trying to create the five second gap by giving Perez DRS and a tow and driving slowly in front of Russell. The Ferrari driver merely admitted it was too difficult to try and ensure Perez after his penalty landed between him and Russell in the final timings.
Hamilton attempted similar ‘dirty trick’
Further, Toto Wolff appeared to forget what his star driver attempted back in 2016 when the title battle was on the line between Nico Rosberg and himself.
Hamilton used similar backing up tactics in an attempt to reverse Rosberg out of his title winning position needing Rosberg to finish outside the podium places.
The result of ~Hamilton driving slowly compressed the top four cars together and within 3 seconds as the race entered the closing laps and a charging Sebastian Vettel closed in on Rosberg.
Mercedes issued several instructions to Hamilton to speed up, but he ignored them including a final one from Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe, which Toto Wolff revealed later was the highest level of pitfall intervention.
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Wolff refuses to criticise Lewis poor ‘sportsmanship’
With Rosberg rightfully claiming the title, Toto Wolff decided to take a pragmatic view post race rather than criticism Hamilton.
“I’m in two minds at that stage,” he said when recounting the tense closing laps. “The guy who is responsible for that company and the structure we have put in place, and the team that we have put in place and its values, it’s pretty clear – it can’t make a difference whether it’s the first or the last race.
“We have invented those principles, those values and those objectives and it has won us races and it has won us championships. So this is one side.”
Lewis Hamilton had created a huge debate in th paddock over whether his behaviour was worthy of a world champion or just unsportsmanlike. Wolff continued:
Fire and Brimstone would have erupted
“The other side, me the racer, says maybe I would have done the same. He had two choices – disappear in the distance and show that he’s the quickest guy on the planet today and win the race, irrespective of what’s happening in the back. Or decide the other way and bunch them up behind him.
“So this is why it’s not clear cut, we have to calm down. There is so much going on in the background which plays a role in how we are thinking and this is why I don’t want to express an opinion before I’ve actually made up my mind for myself.”
Yet the night before the race Toto Wolff had called for “sportsmanlike” conduct from his drivers in the title decider, yet chose not to criticise Hamilton when he did exactly the opposite of the team instructions relayed to him repeatedly.
We can only imagine the brimstone and fire that would have erupted from Wolff had Leclerc successfully managed to place Perez in third place ahead of Russell. Which of course is in stark contrast to the comma ci comma sa response Toto gave when his star driver was trying to employ a similar tactic.
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With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
