Lewis Hamilton's storming Silverstone stint
At one stage, Hamilton was consistently lapping two to three tenths quicker than the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
Lewis Hamilton’s pace in the first half of the British Grand Prix was phenomenal, but his efforts went mostly unrewarded and unnoticed.
Mercedes were properly on the pace on Sunday at Silverstone.
With medium tyres, Lewis Hamilton was actually quicker than both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc throughout the opening stint.
On lap 6, Hamilton was 5 seconds adrift of Leclerc. The gap fluctuated for a handful of laps, until lap 14, when Hamilton came into his own.
He began closing rapidly and relentlessly, consistently lapping some two to three tenths faster than Leclerc.
The Ferrari dived into the pits 11 laps later. The damage was done. Hamilton was just 1.3 seconds behind.
This sort of performance is an encouraging uptick in form for Mercedes, who are yet to win a race this year.
Hamilton reckoned post-race at Silverstone that Mercedes have taken a step closer to Red Bull and Ferrari.
His pace would certainly suggest that in the right circumstances they can get close to Ferrari. The smoothness of a proper race track at Silverstone undoubtedly helped the Silver Arrows’ pace.
Team boss Toto Wolff said it was pleasing to show “strong pace” throughout the weekend. He added that the team’s updates “seemed to work well”.
But, Wolff said that 2022 would be a tough year to win in. It is a fair comment to make, given how Hamilton’s British Grand Prix ended. The promising start ultimately fizzled out.
Hamilton lost a bit of time with a troubled pitstop and then his overcut strategy backfired thanks to the safety car, wiping out his advantage.
Then, when the race restarted for a dash to the finish, Hamilton no longer had the pace to challenge for the win.
It’s not entirely clear what happened, but Mercedes have previously struggled to generate heat in their tyres.
Hamilton finished in third.
“With two cars and a bit more luck we could have been fighting for the win,” Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said.
“Even so, we can take a lot of encouragement from the progress this weekend.”
Author’s Note: If you enjoyed this piece about Lewis Hamilton, be sure to check out the post below from last month.
Even though Mercedes is struggling, for this season Lewis had the best starts and among the top in other metrics (https://twitter.com/TracingInsights/status/1544587859575046145)