Mercedes say Lewis Hamilton would have effectively been a sitting duck in front of the chase group at the Safety Car restart at Silverstone had he not switched to soft tires at that point.
Hamilton had enough of a buffer in third to pit and still came out ahead of Sergio Perez, who was among the drivers also pitted for soft rubber to set up what turned out to be a stunning climax to the Grand Prix of Great Britain.
Esteban Ocon’s withdrawal saw Hamilton and others brace for a 10-lap sprint to the finish and the seven-time world champion was able to retain his place on the podium, ahead of a disgruntled Charles Leclerc on older hard tires in a scintillating battle after being overtaken by Perez .
Carlos Sainz managed to pull away from the front as the battle raged from P2 to P6, with five cars from five different teams battling for position in the closing stages – in a thrilling finish that Ross Brawn called the “perfect demonstration” of how they are designed to work the 2022 regulations.
Sunday’s top three are behind their teammates in the standings, but have grabbed significant chunks of their lead 🔢
Sainz to Leclerc: +13Perez to Verstappen: +12Hamilton to Russell: +16#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/SOP6qCzgky
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) July 4, 2022
But Mercedes believe Hamilton would not have been able to fight in the way he did if he had stayed on hard tyres, even if it had given him a favorable track position.
A Mercedes engineer explained to Auto Motor und Sport: “We had much bigger problems with the heating of the tires compared to Ferrari. Lewis would have no chance on the hard tires after the restart against the rest on the softs.
“It was always clear to us that we would use the safety car to switch to soft tires in all circumstances.”
Hamilton was right on the pace of the leaders throughout the race, setting several consecutive fastest laps as he tried to close in on the two Ferrari drivers at the front.
The Safety Car came out as he reeled them in and when presented with the hypothetical scenario of what would have happened had the yellow flags not been waved, Mercedes were confident of a P2 finish.
“We would still have Sainz. It would have been difficult with Leclerc,” said the Mercedes engineer.
Hamilton’s podium, coupled with George Russell’s retirement, moved him to within 18 points of his younger team-mate, taking a second successive podium in the process.
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