Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and Mercedes driver Sir Lewis Hamilton do not see eye-to-eye over the seven-time champion’s strategy at the British Grand Prix last weekend.
Hamilton was hunting down the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in Silverstone on the Mediums, and Leclerc was being held up by his team-mate, who had started on pole.
The Briton went longer that the Scuderia drivers before pitting for Hards and, while he was extending his stint, Ferrari allowed Leclerc to pass the Spaniard.
When Hamilton did pit, he went onto the Hards, and was chasing the Ferrari duo again when a late Safety Car was deployed.
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The Maranello side opted not to pit Leclerc, and the Monegasque fell back to fourth from the lead, with Sainz winning the race ahead of Sergio Perez and Hamilton.
Before the Safety Car was deployed though, Horner admitted he was “surprised” that the 37-year-old did not bolt on a set of Softs, which might have seen him pass Leclerc and Sainz before the Safety Car, but Hamilton insists that the tyres would not have gone the distance.
“I don’t really pay much attention to what is said by that guy,” he told RacingNews365.com ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
“From our knowledge, from what I was told, from our experience, the tyres were not going to go the distance.
“They were definitely quicker for the first part but there was huge degradation on the other cars that we had seen.
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“Now, did we get it perfect? Who knows? But I think we made the right decision.”
The 103-time race winner indicated that it might have been possible to tun the Mediums even longer before switching onto the Softs, but would have, could have, should have is very easy to ponder after the race.
“No one could do the stint length that I did on the Medium,” explained Hamilton.
“I don’t know if anyone else did that length and had that performance and pace at the end on that tyre.
“The question is could I have kept going and then shortened my Soft tyre run? But in hindsight it’s always positive.”
Mercedes are, according to Michael Schmidt of Auto Motor und Sport, planning to bring a series of small upgrades to the next three races, and their development from this weekend onwards could help them win races in the latter part of the season.
Hamilton’s P3 in Silverstone was his third rostrum appearance of the season, taking Mercedes’ total up to sixth.