Lewis Hamilton praises Mercedes strategy "gamble" for Spanish GP win

Lewis Hamilton after Spanish GP qualifying — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes

Hamilton praises Mercedes strategy "gamble" for Spanish GP win

Hamilton won in Spain for the fifth consecutive year

Sam Hall

Sunday 9 May 2021 17:48

Lewis Hamilton revealed Mercedes had been planning its two-stop "gamble" from the early stages of the weekend after taking victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton equalled his best start to an F1 season by scoring his third win in four races after recovering a 23-second gap to Max Verstappen after pitting for a second time with 24 laps remaining.

"It's a long way to come back from 20-odd seconds back but it was a good gamble, a really great strategy by the team," said Hamilton.

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Far from being a spur of the moment decision to put Hamilton into clean air, the seven-time champion explained Mercedes had budgeted tyres for a two-stop strategy from the start of the weekend.

He added: "It had been the plan all weekend for us to make sure that we had two mediums to be able to do a two-stop.

"Even though a one-stop potentially looked better, I know from experience here that a one-stop is very hard to pull off.

"As soon as we had the pace that we had, I knew as soon as I could get past him, if I could and I was about to - I think, had a shot at getting past him before I pitted right at the end and I was really conflicted.

"Like, do I come in or do I ignore the call and stay out. Obviously, I did what the team asked and naturally, that is because there is a great trust between us but just a remarkable job from everyone in this team and what a day."

Hamilton had been jumped by Verstappen into the first corner and remained behind until he finally made a move with six laps to go.

Reflecting on the start, Hamilton said: "It was such a close start. There was a lot of rubber down on the right-hand side and the Red Bull got a great start and after that, I was just hunting.

"I was so close for so long and I didn't think in doing that I was going to be able to make the tyres last but I just managed to just keep them in somehow."