The British Grand Prix offered us several superb battles, including the one between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at halfway.
Once again, we saw the Mercedes driver fight for the first places, over wheel-to-wheel clashes. But unlike last year, it was not against Max Verstappen but against Charles Leclerc.
While he had clashed with Max Verstappen on this same Silverstone circuit last year, Lewis Hamilton on the contrary compared the attitude on the track of the Dutchman with that of the Monegasque. For him, there is no photo.
“Charles did a good job, what a great battle. He’s a very reasonable driver – clearly very different from what I experienced last year. »
“At Copse, for example, we both got through without a problem. What a battle. »
“We had to have a tire advantage to overtake him. A really, really amazing weekend. »
It was precisely at Copse that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had hung on last year: we will have understood the reference!
With a 3rd place, Lewis Hamilton can be both satisfied and disappointed. Disappointed because without the safety car, he seemed to have the rhythm and the strategy to go ahead of the Ferraris… Which feeling prevails?
” During a moment, [la victoire en course] was possible, we felt it. A lot of things worked against us. »
“The start…we climbed to third place and then they put us back to fifth. Then I lost ground on Lando [Norris], so I spent several laps trying to pass him. »
“Then the gap was five or six seconds with the Ferraris. But I was having good times, I was catching them, I had a good stint and I said to myself: Yes, maybe we can fight for victory here. »
“But unfortunately the gap was too big and the pitstop was not very fast. At the end, I just had trouble with the heating of the tires and I lost places on two cars. It was very difficult today. »