Lewis Hamilton has hailed his teams strategy call which put him on a two-stopper, admitting he wouldn’t have been able to win had he stopped just the once.
The McLaren driver questioned the decision at first, as it became clear those behind him were looking to complete the 70 laps on just two sets of tyres.
Despite dropping to third behind Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, he managed to put his fresh rubber to good use and overtake the pair with just seven laps remaining.
“I was not able to do one stop, I think I would have fallen back, so I think a two-stop was just right,” he said after winning the Canadian Grand Prix.
“Of course we were aware of that. We went into the race knowing we would be doing two stops and when the guys were behind me I had a feeling that Fernando would be doing one stop. I knew I had to make a gap while looking after the tyres, even though Fernando was picking his pace up. It was one of the best stints I had.”
Alonso finally finished fifth behind Vettel, after the latter decided to make a late switch to two-stops, whilst Alonso continued on his degrading softs.
Hamilton said he never had any doubts about winning the race.
“It was one of the most enjoyable races I have had until now and I was just thinking today to finish at the front as I did with my first win would be very, very special for me. I could not believe it when I crossed the line. The feeling inside was like an explosion, that is what I like about racing.
“I never had a doubt in my mind that there was no possibility to win, but I was thinking that these guys were quite far behind so assumed they were doing one stop.”
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