Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles has explained why the team opted not to pit Lewis Hamilton under the Safety Car at the Chinese Grand Prix.

It turned out to be a race-winning strategy for Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull, but Hamilton was not called in and found himself vulnerable to those behind him.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted that, in hindsight, Hamilton should have been told to box, but Vowles has lifted the lid on why that decision was not made.

“The situation across the race at that point was that cars weren’t really overtaking, even when there was a difference in compounds between them,” Vowles told Mercedes’ Pure Pitwall debrief.