Formula 1
TOTO SAYS ENOUGH WE GO BACK TO DOMINATION! FRONT ROW START FOR MERCEDES P3 FOR MAX.
Hamilton’s response to the “gamesmanship” accusations
After the session, Hamilton had his say on these accusations too.
“I mean, it’s so silly man,” he said.
“I mean, everyone was doing a slow out-lap. It was no different, really, to any other lap.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JULY 31: Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing prepares to drive in the garage during final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 31, 2021 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
“I knew that ahead of those guys, ahead of Valtteriand whoever was ahead of him, would all bunch up towards the end of the lap, so I tried to make as big a gap as possible.
“Of course, each time we’re going out we’re trying to prepare the tyres and keep them cooler because they get so hot throughout the lap.
“I wasn’t playing any tactics. I don’t need to play no tactics. I know what I’m doing in the car and it’s fast enough, we don’t need to add tactics.
“So, those that are making the comments really don’t clearly know anything about the job that we’re doing here, which is probably why they’re not driving here.”
MAX VERSTAPPEN:
“The whole weekend so far we have been a bit behind and qualifying was the same. I went a bit backwards on my Q3 lap compared to Q2 and I just didn’t have the same grip for some reason.
I don’t know if it was track or tyre related but the balance was a bit off to push everywhere and around here the corners all follow really quickly so if you don’t feel good in one corner, the next one won’t be great either. I lost a bit of lap time on the final run but even with a faster out lap and a slightly better balance I don’t think we would have been on pole. P3 isn’t where we want to be and we cannot be happy with that but nevertheless, we are still up there with Checo next to me so we will see what we can do in the race.
We will also find out if starting on the soft is a good strategy as it’s going to be really hot. The softer tyre won’t last as long as the medium but maybe it will help us off the line. The start around here is very important so we will give it a good go and fight to get the best out of the race.”