F1 News
Late pit stop Hamilton wasn't planned. "Felt like a good way"
- GPblog.com
James Alisson, technical director of Mercedes, has confessed that initially it was not planned that Lewis Hamilton would dive into the pit lane in the final phase of the race in Hungary to go for the fastest lap. Because Hamilton set the fastest time, the Englishman got an extra point in the battle for the World Championship title.
"We weren't planning on it. It was a feeling that grew a little bit with us. At one point we thought we had a very comfortable lead with Lewis and we could take that opportunity to put him on fresh tyres without any threat from behind. What's more, if we had a safety car with new tyres, we'd be ahead of the competition. It felt like a good way to keep Lewis in the lead," said Alisson in conversation with RaceFans.
Leader Hamilton
By choosing to bring Hamilton in after all, Hamilton took a total of 26 points. With this he conquered the leading position in the rankings. Hamilton leads the ranking with 63 points, five more than teammate Valtteri Bottas. Max Verstappen is third with 33 points.