Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes Mercedes may have let Ferrari “off the hook” at the 2022 British GP by pitting Lewis Hamilton for hard tires during his scheduled pit stop.
Given Mercedes’ lower tire degradation, Horner believes that the Silver Arrows could have instead put soft tires on Hamilton’s car. This would’ve offset the pace advantage held by the hard tire-shodden Ferraris ahead of him, consequently giving the Briton a fighting chance for victory during the latter part of the race.
Speaking to the Motorsport Network in a post-race interview, Horner said:
“I was actually surprised that Lewis, with the amount of laps to go, and the degradation that he’s shown, didn’t take a soft.”
He added:
“He went onto the hard tire on Lap 33 and I actually thought he was going to go onto the soft, because that would have made it much easier for him to make the offset in grip. It felt like they have maybe been let off the hook there.”
Lewis Hamilton showed strong pace in the early stages of the British GP and seemed like a genuine threat to the leading Ferrari pair. He forced the Scuderia to pit Carlos Sainz earlier than planned to allow Charles Leclerc some breathing room.
Five laps later, when Leclerc himself pitted for hard tires, Hamilton took over the race lead and continued to put in respectable lap times until Lap 33. But even though Hamilton had a fresh set of soft tires that could have easily lasted for the rest of the race, Mercedes chose to put on the hard tires instead.
Ferrari criticized by former F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen for their decision at the 2022 British GP
Two-time F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen has criticized Ferrari for their decision during the early stages of the British GP when a faster Charles Leclerc was stuck behind teammate Carlos Sainz.
Hakkinen believes that the Scuderia’s decision to allow its drivers to fight for the position allowed Lewis Hamilton to get himself into an advantageous position.
In his column for Unibet, Hakkinen wrote:
“Ferrari hesitated on team strategy, allowing Carlos and Charles to get into a battle which cost them time and allowed Lewis Hamilton to close on them.”
He added, saying:
“I think the way Carlos handled that situation and then took advantage of having fresh tires after the final safety car was brilliant. But Ferrari need to have a very clear team strategy at each race if they are to challenge Red Bull during the second half of the season.” What an incredible restart!
Sainz makes his race-winning move as Hamilton and Perez scrap for P3
#BritishGP #F1
What an incredible restart! Sainz makes his race-winning move as Hamilton and Perez scrap for P3 #BritishGP #F1 https://t.co/GfqFcIkcXz
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Lewis Hamilton’s close proximity to Carlos Sainz in P2 discouraged the team from double-stacking both drivers during the safety car intervention late in the race. Only Carlos Sainz was pitted for fresh tires, while Leclerc was left out on his old hards.
This meant that the Monegasque was unable to defend his position for a long time, and ultimately finished in P4.
Edited by nicolaas.ackermann12
