Silverstone crowns the strategist Hamilton
Although he started in pole position, Lewis Hamilton had to work hard to win the British Grand Prix. He was pleased after the race to have triumphed thanks to his smart strategic choices.
At the end of the first six laps at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton was, to everyone’s surprise, behind the two Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. However, the Englishman managed to make his comeback thanks to two crucial strategic decisions.
Firstly, the Englishman stopped a lap before Felipe Massa, which allowed him, through the undercut, to take the lead of the race. « The race was very tough; chasing the Williams was very difficult because it was extremely hard to get close and then overtake them, but I got close enough during the first stop to come out ahead of them at the end of the out-lap » he recounted on the podium.
Then, when the rain joined the program, he knew how to listen to his instinct – or benefited from a stroke of luck – to switch to intermediate tires perfectly at the right moment. Meanwhile, his teammate Nico Rosberg stayed out one lap too long in the rain and lost about ten seconds in the mishap. Hamilton particularly praised his second stop: When the rain came, my tire temperature dropped; it’s difficult when you’re leading the race as you’re the first to stop. I think it’s the first time in my Formula 1 career that I made the right choice, seeing the rain coming. I had never done it before, and I am extremely happy about it.
On the Silverstone podium, in front of thousands of fans thrilled by the victory of one of their own, Lewis Hamilton couldn’t help but pay tribute to the English crowd: « It was a very, very special weekend for me. To see so many fans here this weekend… I thought I had seen it all last year, but I love these guys. »
In the World Championship standings, Lewis Hamilton now has a 17-point lead over Nico Rosberg.
