Villeneuve: Mercedes should watch TV instead of looking at computers

Mercedes stuck to a one stop strategy in Mexico starting their race on the Medium tyres and switching to Hards, while Red Bull went for a Soft/Medium combination making it work on one stop only.

Both Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were not happy with their team's choice of the Hard tyres for their second stint while the team remained in denial, claiming they are the best choice.

Jacques Villeneuve was intrigued by how Mercedes acted, something that made race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez interesting.

"The atmosphere in Mexico was great, really wonderful to see," he said in his formul1.nl column. "And I found the race, despite the criticism that it had been boring, interesting to watch.

"Mercedes' choices in particular made it fascinating, although perhaps they should have watched more television as well," he pointed out.

"For years, Mercedes has had the best car and they were never really cornered," the Canadian claimed. They were defensive on Sunday, where Red Bull was aggressive and went on the attack. When you defend, your choices are never decisive and you only win when the other makes mistakes."

Villeneuve noted that up and down the grid there were indications that Mercedes' tyre strategy was wrong, evident from what other teams and drivers were doing.

"In the first half of the race, it was easy to see that the Soft tyre survived despite full tanks and a green track," he wrote. "It has been the case for fifty years that as the race progresses you get lighter and the track gets more grip. So I was surprised by the choice of the Hard tyre, though.

"Lewis Hamilton still had speed, so why not? But for George Russell, the frustration was great: he asked several times to drive on and go for the soft tyre," the 1997 Formula 1 Champion added. "He had nothing to lose anyway.

"Everyone could see what Ricciardo did on the Mediums, which was clearly the right compound. Maybe the Mercedes team should also just watch television instead of looking at all their computers," he said.

"Red Bull drew the race to itself by starting on the Red tyre, Verstappen was not affected by the dirty air and drove very strongly to the win despite a tricky looking car," Villeneuve summed up.

Mercedes started the race second and third with Russell and Hamilton respectively, but while Hamilton finished second, he missed out on a decent chance of getting his first win in 2022 due to his team's strategy.

Russell on the other hand finished fourth having lost out on the start to his teammate and Red Bull's Sergio Perez, Mercedes' strategy also not helping.