Lewis Hamilton’s tires were “on the edge”, Pirelli says

Mercedes was right to pit Lewis Hamilton against the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday, as his tires would likely not have reached the end of the race, according to Formula 1 supplier Pirelli.

Hamilton was upset with Mercedes’ decision to take him seven laps to go, a move that took him from third to fifth.

The result saw Hamilton lose the championship lead and slip six points behind title rival Max Verstappen.

Hamilton was trying to take the intermediate tires he started the race with until the end of the race, but Mercedes feared this would make him vulnerable in the final laps.

After the race, Hamilton learned that Alpine’s Esteban Ocon had managed to complete the entire race without changing tires.

To that he said, “If Ocon could do it, then I could do it for sure.”

Later footage showed Ocon’s car finished the race with a piece of rubber missing from the right front tire. Ocon also completed only 57 of 58 laps, having been completed by the leaders.

Hamilton had rejected two pit calls in the laps leading up to his stoppage and he admitted he might have missed the perfect moment to stop and not lose ground to Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc.

“I think in hindsight I probably should have stayed out or got there a lot earlier because when you come up with eight laps to go you don’t have time to go through the graining phase of that average tire. on a dry track, ”Hamilton mentioned. “I went through this whole sliding phase where I almost lost more positions. A little frustrating but that’s how it is.”

Pirelli boss Mario Isola said it was a marginal situation.

When asked if Hamilton could have made his first set to the end, Isola told Sky Sports: “Looking at the tires after the race I would say no or at least it was really on the limit.

“The wear of the tires, especially at the end of the race, they mainly worked on the construction. It’s a little dangerous to push the limits like today. I fully understand that in a race condition, they have to maximize the result. “

He added: “It was really, really at the limit. I was suggesting our assigned engineers warn the teams to change the tires, not to go all the way because it was a risky move.”