Lewis Hamilton found himself ” a little bit nervous” during final laps of Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
He was nervous whether the tyres would make it to the end for his victory or not. He had suffered tyre failure and completed the last lap at Silverstone with a punctured tyre.
The British driver won his fifth victory of the season at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday. He is currently leading the championship score board with 157 points. Max Verstappen is chasing him with 110 points.
Giovinazzi and Russell crashed at spa, which resulted in safety car. Mercedes decided to pit its drivers which came back on track with the same positions.
Mercedes chose one stop strategy for the Brit after the 11th lap. It required him to protect the race lead on hard tyre for the rest of 33 laps.
Hamilton showed its concerns to the team after few lock-ups. The tyres suffered from vibrations, which made him afraid of a tyre failure.
“It wasn’t the easiest of races, there were a couple of moments,” Hamilton said.
“I locked up into Turn 5 and started to get a bit of a vibration, and then once into the last corner.
“The tyre temps were just slowly dropping.
“No matter how much you were pushing, I guess as you lose rubber you start to lose temperature in the tyres.
“It was a bit of a struggle, but it was okay.
“I was a little bit nervous that we might have a scenario like Silverstone with that right front towards the end, so I was nursing it.
“It looks like the tyre had plenty of rubber on it, so maybe it was fine.”
Hamilton led the race thoroughly and kept his team mate Valtteri Bottas at bay. He deprived Fin of slip stream on the long ru down the Kemmel Straight.
“It worked to my benefit, to be honest, that snap, because it meant he was right up my tail,” Hamilton said.
“I am sure he had to lift and it meant when we got the top of the hill, I don’t know if he had to lift or not, but he didn’t have enough time to slingshot today.”
