Alonso 'at it again': Spaniard ruins Hamilton's chances at a Silverstone podium
13:18, 11 Jul
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During the first day and a half of the British Grand Prix weekend, it looked like Lewis Hamilton was primed to take his first ever podium with Ferrari. However, it was not to be as the race was soon thrown into disarray and Ferrari were 'blind' to make the most of it and as fate would have it, Fernando Alonso would also have an unexpected hand in it.
Right after Hamilton's final pit stop of the race, the battle for P3 against Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg appeared to be swaying more and more over to the Briton's side. Nevertheless, both Ferrari and Hamilton soon discovered that the track was not quite yet at the cross-over between slicks and wet weather tyres.
“I think you can say now that it was probably one lap too early, also because that he went straight in Turns 3-4 and lost four or five seconds in these two corners,” said Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur to media present at Silverstone after the race.
Alonso, albeit inadvertently, played role in Ferrari jumping the gun
For the Frenchman there's always a risk in the Formula 1 strategy game, particularly in these scenarios, highlights that the team's decision to pit Hamilton came from looking at Alonso's mini-sector times.
“It’s the kind of situation that if you want that the others are doing the move before you, it’s always too late. And I think it’s quite easy after the race to say that first pit stop could have been better to stop one lap before; the second pit stop to stop one lap later.
“I think it was Alonso who pitted before,” Vasseur noted, “and it was already faster on some corners than all the guys on intermediate.
“But honestly, on this, when you have to take the decision on the pit wall, it’s a very tricky one, because you always have to be into the anticipation.”
Ferrari were blind to Hamilton's car
The strategic calls' difficulty were amped up due to a malfunction in Hamilton's car that struck since the start of the British Grand Prix, revealed Vasseur. “We lost the GPS of Lewis all the race. It means that we are completely blind and didn’t know where the car was. It was a difficult one,” concluded the Frenchman.
Nevertheless, considering the tough conditions Ferrari and Hamilton had to face throughout the race,and taking into account the navigation system's failure, a P4 was overall a strong result for a team and a driver who seem to be on the rise following a complicated start to the 2025 F1 season.
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