Hamilton reflects on Ferrari objecting to his strategy call: 'We are getting to know each other'

16:35, 04 Jul
Updated: 17:36, 04 Jul
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At the Austrian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton wanted to extend his second stint, but Ferrari still asked him into the pit lane, and the seven-time world champion finished in P4. In Silverstone, he reflected on what happened last Sunday.
While Hamilton explained over the team radio in Spielberg that he wants to stay out for longer, Ricciardo Adami only told him to complete his scheduled pit stop. After the race, deputy team principal Jerome d'Ambrosio also reflected on why Ferrari objected to Hamilton's call.
Talking to GPblog among others, Hamilton said about the incident: "Even just probably an hour ago (on Thursday) I brought it up. But I mentioned it after the race and then we had time to reflect on it and I think the team's view was I think they just wanted to make sure they secured third and fourth. Which is totally fine."
"But I said, look, I'm not here to start fourth and finish fourth. I'm racing for every little bit that we can gain," he underlined.
Hamilton would have preferred to try something else to the strategy Charles Leclerc was on, given George Russell in P5 was far behind. "I'd never want to do the same thing as my teammate ever. And in that last stint for example we were not under pressure from the cars behind. So they said, yeah, but you would have got overtaken by a Charles towards the end. I said, well, that could have been a Safety Car. And in that point, there was no risk in taking the gamble."
He concluded: "And I said, I don't want to get to a point where I'm ignoring you, so what it is, what we're doing is working on our communication. And we're still getting to know each other how we like to operate, and that's understood."
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Great start for Hamilton at the British Grand Prix

The first session in Silverstone was a positive one for the Ferrari driver, as he set the fastest time of FP1.