Mika Hakkinen: I can understand why Hamilton stayed out

Lewis Hamilton’s decision to pit for new Intermediate tyres, according to Mika Hakkinen, was the right one, as he would have risk failing to finish in Turkey if he had stayed out.

Despite the fact that Lewis Hamilton’s choice to stay on the heavily used Intermediate tyres didn’t work out, Mika Hakkinen understands why the Mercedes driver tried to stay with them.

In the closing stages of the Turkish Grand Prix, Hamilton was in third place when Mercedes requested a new set of tyres. The Briton eventually took the advise and came in after first deciding to stay on the track.

In the end, Hamilton finished fifth in the race as a result of the move. Since the race, Hakkinen has said that while he understands Hamilton’s desire to stay out, his performance would have suffered if he had stayed on track.

“Lewis had a much more difficult race because of the critical timing of pit-stops,” Hakkinen wrote in his column for Unibet.

“The best moment to stop was around the time when Max pitted, and that’s precisely when Valtteri [Bottas] came in for a new set of Intermediates too. Any other strategy felt like a risk, even if the car felt OK at that moment.

“While I can understand why Lewis decided to stay out and try to keep going until the end of the race, for sure the tyre performance would have dropped away.

“We saw that with Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, which never made a pit-stop, and also with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which stayed out and led the race for nine laps. Ultimately Charles’ tyres were providing no grip, and that’s what would have happened to Lewis.”

Hamilton finished fifth, a position Hakkinen says he should be pleased with given the possibility of a tyre failure if he had stayed out.

“He could also have suffered a tyre failure, and failing to finish is really not something that he can risk in his battle with Max for the World Championship,” Hakkinen added.

“In my opinion finishing fifth, on a day when Valtteri won and Max had to settle for second, was a good result for Lewis.”

The uniforms of Formula One racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price: