One of the topics that will be discussed the most by Formula 1 fans at the end of the Turkish Grand Prix will focus on what happened at Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton. The reigning world champion, in the final stages of the race, had in fact expressed the desire to continue up to the checkered flag with the set of intermediate tires in use up to that moment.
A project aimed at zero stops that had alerted the head of the Mercedes track engineers Andrew Shovlin, worried about the conditions and the progressive wear of the tires. For this reason, Hamilton then gave in to the will of the team, returning to the pits to change tires and finishing the race in fifth place, not without expressing his disappointment with this strategy.
In addition to Shovlin’s own explanation on the implementation of this move, the top tire expert is also supporting the choice of Mercedes. Mario Isola, Head of F1 & Car Racing of Pirelli. The manager of the Milanese company has in fact evaluated the specific circumstance that involved Hamilton with the relative wear of his tires, coming to expose these conclusions to the microphones of Sky Sports at the end of the race: “Judging the condition of the tires after the race – analyzed Isola – I believe Lewis he would not have reached the finish line, or at most he would have really reached the limit. Had he continued, the rubber coating would have been reduced to the carcass only, particularly towards the end. It would have been really dangerous to push under these circumstances, but I can understand that the riders want to maximize the result when they are involved and focused during the race ”.
Of all the participants in the Turkish Grand Prix, the only one who managed to complete the Istanbul test without ever stopping in the pits was Esteban Ocon, then finished 10th in the standings. Asked about the realization of the French driver’s feat, the Pirelli manager answered this question as follows: “Each car is different – has explained – and consequently the level of the coating is also different. It all also depends on how much a driver pushes on the track, but overall all the cars had extreme wear conditions. Most of those who stopped on lap 47 or 48 had practically finished tires. We knew – he concluded – that with the new interventions the asphalt would have been more abrasive and would have resulted in greater grip than last year. The track was completely dry, but it was still abrasive, and it was really at the limit. I would suggest our engineers to stress to the teams the need to change tires during the race, and to avoid continuing to the end. It is too dangerous“.