Hill: Allow drivers to call the shots

Damon Hill believes Mercedes should have allowed Lewis Hamilton "to call the shots" in terms of his race strategy midway through the Brazilian GP.

After finding himself stuck behind team-mate Nico Rosberg and with his tyres starting to wear off, Hamilton asked his engineer to get him onto a different strategy.

The team, though, kept the status quo and Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff also confirmed after the race that they won't change their approach despite Hamilton's moan.

However, 1996 World Champion Hill believes teams should be more flexible with their strategies and give drivers an option to "try something different".

"I have some sympathy with what Lewis was saying, the drivers should be allowed to call the shots – and if he wants to try something different and basically zag when the other guy is zigging," he told Sky Sports F1.

"If you go on the same strategy you are going to get the same situation. Going on a different strategy, something could have happened to Lewis' opportunity. He could have got a better pit-stop, gained a little bit more time in traffic and made it a more interesting race."

Besides Hamilton's complaints and a couple of impressive overtaking moves from Max Verstappen, the Brazilian GP failed to deliver.

Hill believes F1 needs to do something to make the sport more exciting.

"It is one of the inherent problems with our sport and how it is structured. The teams have a responsibility to their investors and the team and everything and they have to consider the big picture," he added.

"But you at home are buying a ticket to watch and you want to see the drivers racing against each other so you have every right to say 'well, I am not watching a race, am I? I want my money back.' It is a fair enough point to want to see two guys, in the same team, free to race each other at will."