McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh expresses surprise at rivals’ one-stop strategy – Formula 1
McLaren team Principal Martin Whitmarsh said that he was surprised by Ferrari and Red Bull over their attempts to complete the Canadian Grand Prix adopting a one-stop strategy.
The gamble to use a one-stop strategy backfired and the advantage that the teams seemed to have gained earlier in the race was lost at the end of it.
Fernando Alonso was in the lead using a one-stop strategy but as the commentators started to praise the strategy, the tyres on the Ferrari started to degrade quickly and the pace of the car was visibly lowered.
This allowed Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel to overtake the Spaniard in the final stages of the race. Although it turned out to be a faulty strategy Alonso said that he does not regret going for the gamble to win the race.
“I was a little bit surprised to be honest that Ferrari and Red Bull appeared to have a small upside with quite a lot of risk with their strategy in my view,” Whitmarsh said. “There are times when you can take a punt like that but I think the potential gain
was quite small and the risk was quite large. I'm glad they did of course and I think the team did a great job today with running the race. I think Lewis is really on top form with these tyres, they're clearly difficult and he could turn them on.”
He added that Hamilton was in control of his pace during the race which is classic Hamilton. He was able to manage the pace of the car according to the situation of the race. He closed out the gap with Fernando Alonso and if the team radioed him to be a
bit quicker he was able to set best lap times.
Hamilton is now in the lead of the drivers table followed by Alonso who is only two points ahead of Vettel. All three are champions and all three know what it takes to be a winner. The season has turned out to be very competitive and it will be interesting
to see how it all finishes.
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