Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton has brutally shut down Red Bull principal Christian Horner after the 48-year-old suggested that the Silver Arrows failed to make competent strategy calls at the British Grand Prix last weekend.
Hamilton impressively finished third despite starting in fifth on the grid by overtaking Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, much to the delight of his home crowd. But Horner claimed that Mercedes should not have pitted Hamilton for hard tyres on the 33rd lap, instead insisting he should have stopped for soft tyres instead.
The Red Bull hero said that Ferrari had been ‘let off the hook’ by their poor decision. But Hamilton has fired back by claiming that he ‘does not pay attention’ to Horner as a war of words continues to embroil between the two sides.
“I don’t really pay much attention to what is said by that guy!” Hamilton told reporters ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix. “From our knowledge, from what I was told, from our experience, the tyres were not going to go the distance.
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“They were definitely quicker for the first part but there was huge degradation on the other cars that we had seen. Now, did we get it perfect? Who knows. But I think we made the right decision.” Hamilton started with medium tyres, and only Lando Norris lasted longer on that compound at Silverstone.
And whilst the seven-time world champion admitted that he could have changed the decision in hindsight, he was more than happy with his performance. “No one could do the stint length that I did on the Medium. I don’t know if anyone else did that length and had that performance and pace at the end on that tyre,” he continued.
“The question is could I have kept going and then shortened my Soft tyre run? But in hindsight it’s always positive.” The Brit will look to battle with Red Bull and Ferrari once again as he takes to Austria this weekend.
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