While Ferrari was discussing how to define the strategy to win the 2022 Formula 1 British Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz or Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton was the next candidate, since the Briton had a pretty solid pace at the wheel of his Mercedes W13 .
The Englishman cut time to within seconds of the Italian single-seater duo towards the end of the race, but Esteban Ocon’s Alpine stalled on the finish straight and caused a safety car to come out, limiting all options strategic.
Hamilton was quickest before the race stoppage, and with hard tires that were eight laps younger than Leclerc’s, he might have been able to overtake the leaders, as his team boss Toto Wolff acknowledged.
The Austrian spoke to the media immediately after the English driver stood on the podium for the third time so far this season, and assured that, were it not for the Safety Car , they had a good chance of reaping the first victory of the year 2022.
“I’m very pleased, our car pace was strong, and we were fighting for victory in today’s race,” the Silver Arrows boss said at Silverstone on Sky Sports . “It was very encouraging.”
“We lost a bit of speed on the restart after the safety car, but our car didn’t bounce at all,” Wolff added. “Our pace was strong on both the hard and medium tyres, but we couldn’t get the grip we wanted on the soft.”
The Mercedes director also admitted that they had “no idea” what made the hard compound better than the soft in the British test: “Without the Safety Car, I think Lewis [Hamilton] would have won the race.”
“It is a pity that Sergio Pérez was there, and that Sainz was able to escape, but at the same time, as I said, the most reassuring thing is that we finally had a car to compete with,” said the Austrian.
Despite the fact that there is still a lot to improve, the Brackley team have set an ambitious goal, as explained by Wolff, who hopes to be able to fight for victories on a regular basis sooner than later, and will use all the experience accumulated to build a single-seater capable of reaping the world title in 2023 .
