Italian GP: Where Ferrari got it wrong and how Hamilton made it into the points

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (Getty Images)

Hamilton – Forced to Revert to a Different Strategy

After qualifying in 12th place, Lewis Hamilton started the race on a different strategy. The idea was to do a long first stint on hard tyres and attack at the end on faster medium tyres when everyone else is on the hards. But those plans took a bitter blow when Hamilton encountered a slow puncture and had to pit on lap 13 and subsequently switch to a two-stop strategy. Until that point he wasn’t looking particularly impressive, probably due to a combination of slower prime tyres and higher fuel loads.Hamilton then did a 25 lap stint on medium tyres where he was really strong, setting multiple fastest laps at the end of this stint. During this stint, he ran as high as fifth before making his final late stop on lap 38.

In fact, he could have stretched this stint, but with all the radio problems Mercedes didn’t want to take the risk of falling off the cliff.The timing and length of the stint clearly showed that Mercedes actually had the pace. The fact that Hamilton was on a two-stop strategy and Rosberg finished not higher than sixth gave a general misconception that Mercedes lacked outright pace in Monza.After his second stop, Hamilton came out in 14th place and faced an uphill task to return to the points.

He then put on some spectacular moves on much fresher tyres to finish in 9th place. However, drivers in the past have finished much higher from the back of the grid, albeit in different conditions, and that was the only down point about his performance.