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Wolff on angry Hamilton: "He didn't see how much lap time he lost"
- GPblog.com
Toto Wolff has explained why Lewis Hamilton went in for a new set of intermediates seven laps before the chequered flag. According to the Mercedes team boss the seven times world champion would have been overtaken by Pierre Gasly if he had not made a pitstop.
"It's quite interesting," Wolff began to Sky Sports. "The intermediates looked really scary but we thought that we could maybe hang out there and finish third with not stopping or if dry line appeared we'd go for a slick to the end. So, we balanced between pitting and fighting with Perez and Leclerc on track for P3 or taking a little bit of a gamble either winning or finishing third."
Hamilton losing ground
However, the Austrian saw that the performance of the green compound rapidly declined in the last fifteen laps. "We saw Leclerc dropping off and Lewis dropping off and it was clear that we wouldn't make it to the end. It would have been better [stop earlier] than what ended up at the end," said Wolff, who agrees that in the end, it didn't quite work out as desired.
Hamilton was furious over the team radio after being told he was fifth after his pit stop. "It was measured and in the car he didn't see how much he was dropping off in lap time and he didn't see Leclerc dropping off. If had stayed out he would have lost to Gasly anyway."