“Lewis Said No”: Bernie Collins in Awe of Hamilton for Overruling Mercedes Strategists to Win British GP

The British Grand Prix saw Lewis Hamilton return to the top step of the podium after a long wait of 945 days. However, that would not have been the case if he had blindly followed the strategy call from Mercedes near the end of the first stint.

In a recent conversation with Matt Baker on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, former Aston Martin race strategist Bernie Collins pointed out how Hamilton was asked to pit for inters when rain arrived on the track while there were still long dry sections on the track. However, Hamilton decided not to pit at the time and waited for a few more laps.

The 39-year-old made a bold call as some other drivers went on to the intermediate tires early. Ultimately, Hamilton’s call proved to be vital as his competitors, who moved early to the inters, ended up struggling massively. Recalling the events of the race, Collins noted,

“When the first little bit of rain came, Mercedes actually asked Lewis to stop at that point and Lewis said no. That is experience shining through and that was really good I think from Lewis, you know. That would have ruined his race to stop at that point. So yeah, you see these sorts of marks of someone who has that experience, a team that is experienced, a team that is working well together.”

The point Collins made about Hamilton using his experience is exactly something that Lando Norris is lacking and he is having to pay the price for it.

Are McLaren wasting their opportunities this year?

Everyone was impressed with McLaren’s upgrade package in Miami which brought improvements across the board. And Norris winning the Miami GP by keeping Max Verstappen behind proved that McLaren’s MCL38 was just as good as the RB20 if not better. Many believed that Norris would go on to win multiple races after that.

And realistically speaking, McLaren did have a chance to win most of the races since Miami. However, they haven’t won any.

And a lot of it has to do with the wrong strategy calls made by McLaren. Canada is a good example of how Norris wasn’t told to pit immediately after the first Safety Car was deployed, giving away a 10-second lead to Verstappen.

The British GP also saw McLaren making a bunch of wrong strategy calls. But in all fairness, Norris also had a part to play in those situations. Like Hamilton at Silverstone, Norris could also have taken more responsibility for his strategy but he didn’t.