Lewis Hamilton opens up about why he chose medium tires at the start of 2023 F1 British GP

Lewis Hamilton has outlined the strategy he used during the 2023 F1 British Grand Prix. Hamilton secured a third-placed finish in the race after starting the race on medium tires, with a little bit of help from the safety car.

He said while talking to the media:

"When we go through all the different strategy options, this is the one you hope for, which is the safety car."

"I basically put on the medium tyre in the hope and plan to just stay out on them until the very end, until the safety car potentially would come, and fortunately, it did."

Starting the race P7 after a weak qualifying session, Hamilton was on medium tires at the start, like a lot of drivers on the grid. However, this meant that he would have to pit rather early and it would have been difficult for him to overtake and gain positions without having enough race pace.

His teammate George Russell, who started on softs, was stuck behind a Ferrari for a long time. However, the safety car played to the seven-time world champion's advantage.

The Ferraris who were potentially blocking Lewis Hamilton from getting ahead, pitted rather early on the medium tires, in the hope of a potential undercut. This gave Hamilton the track advantage and he was up in the top three.

Kevin Magnussen then had to retire his car because of an engine failure that triggered a full safety car.

This turned out to be a boon for Hamilton, who had been hoping for a safety car. He pitted for the soft tires, and continued the rest of the race on it, securing P3. The Ferrari cars lost out from P4 and P5 to P9 and P10.

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Lewis Hamilton talks about his crash with Max Verstappen at the 2021 British GP

The 2021 season was filled with heat for both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. The two were engaged in a close title fight till the end of the season, with Verstappen ultimately emerging victorious.

Their rivalry heated up quite a bit after what happened at the British Grand Prix. The two drivers collided out of the Copse corner, sending Verstappen into the wall with a whopping force. During a press conference at the 2023 F1 British GP, Hamilton talked about the incident.

"I think I got a better start and he still held onto it on the outside through Turn 1," he said. "We were dicing through [Turns] 3, 4, all the way down into 5, where you think he’d run me a little bit wide, came back on him, got the exit of 7…"

"We collided. That’s what happens in races sometimes, that’s what motorsport sometimes entails."

Lewis Hamilton went on to win the race, while Max Verstappen picked up a DNF.