Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone’s director of motorsport tyre development has revealed that McLaren made the right call in Melbourne when they called Lewis Hamilton into the pits for a second stop.
The decision to stop a second time was lambasted by Hamilton, with other drivers, including Robert Kubica, saying it cost Hamilton second or possibly first place.
Hamilton’s teammate, Jenson Button went onto win the race after he managed to look after his tyres and stop just once. As did Kubica who came second, Felipe Massa, 3rd and Fernando Alonso, 4th.
Speaking to Autosport, Hamashima revealed that both Mark Webber and Hamilton were right to be called in after the tyre supplier analysed the tyres after the race and found they were in very bad shape.
“Concerning Webber and Hamilton – their first dry tyres were almost worn out, they had to do a two-stop.”
It was almost the same situation for Jenson Button according to Hamashima. His decision to stop just once came perilously close to backfiring.
“Jenson’s tread was almost finished, it was a very, very dangerous situation for him.”
The best tyres after the race were those belonging to Alonso: “Fernando was still looking very good,” Hamashima added.
