Hamilton would have had ‘no chance’ on hard tyres at restart

Mercedes say Lewis Hamilton would have effectively been a sitting duck to the chasing pack at the Safety Car restart at Silverstone, had he not switched onto soft tyres at that point.

Hamilton had enough of a buffer in third to pit and still come out in front of Sergio Perez, who was among the drivers who also pitted for soft rubber to create what turned into a stunning climax to the British Grand Prix.

Esteban Ocon’s retirement prompted Hamilton and others to prepare for a 10-lap sprint to the finish and the seven-time World Champion was able to keep his place on the podium, passing a disgruntled Charles Leclerc on older hard tyres in a scintillating battle, having been overtaken himself by Perez.

Carlos Sainz was able to ease away at the front while the battle raged from P2 to P6, with five cars from five different teams all battling it out for position in the closing stages – in a thrilling finish which Ross Brawn dubbed the “perfect demonstration” of how the 2022 regulations were designed to work.

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Sainz to Leclerc: +13

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Hamilton to Russell: +16#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/SOP6qCzgky

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) July 4, 2022

But Mercedes feel that Hamilton would not have been able to fight the way he did had he stayed on hard tyres, even if it did give him favourable track