Lewis Hamilton defends Ferrari team despite F1 strategy blunder: ‘No mixed emotions’
· Yahoo Sports
Lewis Hamilton insists he has “no mixed emotions” after a first podium in Ferrari colours passed him by at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, in third, and teammate Charles Leclerc, in first, had sandwiched pole-sitter George Russell in the opening laps after both Scuderia drivers experienced terrific starts off the line.
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Yet when a virtual safety car presented an opportunity to save time when pitting after 12 laps, Ferrari decided to keep both of their drivers out, while the Mercedes pair of Russell and Kimi Antonelli dived in.
Ferrari waited until lap 25 to pit Leclerc and by the Hamilton pitted three laps later, Russell had already overtaken his compatriot for the lead. Hamilton, at the time, was apopleptic with the decision, insisting: “At least one of us should have come in.” Russell was in the end a comfortable winner at Albert Park with Antonelli in second, followed by Leclerc and Hamilton.
Yet asked about the strategy call afterwards, Hamilton was more reflective: “I don’t have mixed emotions about it, we got third and fourth. Ultimately, Mercedes were quicker than us and that’s probably the maximum result we were going to get today.
“We can definitely go and look and see whether stopping would have been better. I definitely thought when I saw both Mercedes going in, I thought at least one of us should have gone in and covered.
“We’ll go and have a look at and see what we could have done better.
“I feel great. I think the team did a great job overall. Obviously we’re not where we want to be in terms of pace to Mercedes, but there’s a lot of positives to take.”
While plenty of drivers, such as Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, have vocalised their dissatisfaction with these new cars and the energy management aspect, Hamilton was of the opposite viewpoint.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in the first race in Australia (Getty Images)“I personally loved, I thought the car was really fun to drive,” he said. “I watched the cars ahead, there was good battling back and forth, so far so good.
On other drivers complaining, he replied: “You’ll have to ask them. For me, I think it’s awesome. They’re further down the line, 20 cars ahead of you, it may seem different.
“But from my position, I thought that was great.”
While Hamilton waits for his first podium, he next returns to China, where he claimed a sprint race victory last season.