Lewis Hamilton disappointed with his strategy at Spa: “I told them my tires were good”
Visibly frustrated and disappointed after the race with his two-stop strategy, unlike his victorious teammate, Lewis Hamilton was terse when answering journalists' questions at the press conference.
The atmosphere was tense in the press room on Lewis Hamilton’s side after narrowly missing out on victory at the Belgian Grand Prix. While his victorious teammate George Russell only made one pit stop, a winning strategy, Lewis Hamilton made two stops. This compromised his chances of winning, as he made clear. Although he could now recover it, Russell is facing disqualification due to the weight of the non-compliant car…
« Honestly, it was pretty smooth, I was completely in control. I had a lot of rhythm and tires, and it didn’t end as I had planned », admitted the British driver in a press conference. Asked about his own strategy, he specified that he had considered making only one stop. « If you listen, you might hear what I said to the team most of the time », he explained, visibly disappointed. « The tires were pretty good, I still had plenty of tire left and I was going faster, I didn’t want to stop. »
The Briton also discussed the radical transformation of the car since Friday’s tests. “It was literally day and night today,” he said. “On Friday, it was pretty disastrous for both of us, and we really struggled with the balance, and then today, the car came to life. I was really surprised to find myself in the lead and then pull away from everyone.”
A better balance for the Mercedes
Quite succinctly, Hamilton still highlighted his teammate’s excellent work who succeeded in his bold strategy with just one pit stop. “George did a fantastic job today,” said Hamilton. He expressed his restrained satisfaction in going into the summer break with a double for the team. “It’s great to go into the summer break with a 1-2,” he said. “The team really deserves it and has done an incredible job.”
The seven-time world champion is optimistic for the rest of the season. “It’s really fantastic for the sport to have teams and drivers so close,” he said. “We didn’t expect to compete with McLaren or Red Bull at this stage of the season. For us, now, having caught up, it’s going to be a hell of a second half of the season.”
He also went back on the overall performance of the car, which has significantly improved in the last few races. “The car is much more comfortable,” he noted. The balance in low to medium to high-speed corners is much more in line with what we had targeted.
