“Potentially would be an Achilles heel”– Lewis Hamilton reveals strange aspect that led them to emphatic victory against Red Bull in Brazil

Lewis Hamilton defeated Max Verstappen with a comfortable margin in Brazil but reveals the unusual aspect he never expected would work.

Lewis Hamilton entered into the Grand Prix weekend in Brazil with several setbacks. However, he hustled to the top and made a comeback into the title race which was till Friday tilting towards Max Verstappen.

In his recent revelations, Hamilton claims that he was surprised by how well the hard tyres survived in Brazil. However, he also credited the excellent strategy by his team.

“I think, honestly we’ve been working so hard, every weekend, obviously. To try and get the car into a place where we can compete but just with no answer for the pace that they were able to produce.”

“And then [they were] obviously, a long way ahead of us in the last race so we were coming to a track where last time they were very strong here, I think in 2019.”

“So I anticipated that would be hot on Sunday. We knew that that potentially would be an Achilles heel for us but for whatever reason. The cars were working fantastically well this weekend.”

“I chose to go a direction this weekend which we both ended up on and which worked really well. I think, for the both of us, we just really optimised the car in these conditions this weekend.”

“Really surprised to be able to follow so closely and then once I was past Max. I still had tyre left and I could keep going so it was strange because that’s not normal but we’ll take it, very very happy with it.”

Also read: Helmut Marko unbothered by Mercedes Boss’ threat to question everything about the Red Bull car

Lewis Hamilton glad to not touch wheels

Tensions soared when Verstappen pushed him out on turn 4 during lap 48. The Dutchman escaped a penalty, though Hamilton reveals he expected nothing less from Verstappen while turning.

Driver pushes other driver into gravel = penalty

Driver pushes other driver into runoff = no penalty

Where’s the consistency?

It’s supposedly to do with the action not the consequence, but to me, this seems like consequence is definitely a factor.

— Matt Gallagher (@MattyWTF1) November 15, 2021

“I think I was ahead initially, and I think he held his ground and we both ran out of the road,” said Hamilton. “Well, I think he was running out of road.

“So I obviously had to avoid running out of road – but I mean, I didn’t think too much of it and obviously. I’ll have to watch the replay, but it’s hard battling and wouldn’t expect anything less really. We didn’t touch wheels, which is good.”

Also read: Mercedes chief blasts the FIA stewards for not penalizing Max Verstappen for his aggressive defending at the Sao Paolo GP

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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