The two stops were not part of Mercedes' initial strategy

Diving into pit lane with just over 20 laps to go, Lewis Hamilton had to wonder if Mercedes knew what she was doing yesterday in Hungary.

And the final result of the Grand Prix will leave no doubt about the choice of the Germans. Restarting with fresh tires, the Briton had the weapons to go after the leader Max Verstappen (Red Bull), and achieve a seventh victory on this track (record of Michael Schumacher equal).

However, the world champion admitted at a press conference that this move to a two-stop strategy was anything but a given for the star-studded team.

“It will be interesting when we come back to the race and talk about the two stops because on Sunday morning we talked about the strategy and they told us that two stops would not happen, Hamilton confesses.

And when they put the word out to do a second stop, I was like...I didn't know how this was going to work. A gamble is always a good thing, it was a big gamble for us but at the time I felt like I was keeping up with Max.

I didn't know if he was taking his foot off the gas, or just controlling the pace, but I felt good. I thought I would have a few attempts to try to overtake him, but at some point the tires were going to give out, so I don't know how many chances I would have had. »

Especially since the Briton was forced to struggle with a car suffered from brake problems, with temperatures rising on these elements, especially when Hamilton remained in the immediate wake of Max Verstappen, before trying to overtake him at turn 4, without success.

“I had to change my riding style a little to allow the brakes to cool down, explains Hamilton. This meant less effective braking. I was braking hard more briefly in some places and then in a lot of other places, half the lap I wasn't really touching the brakes. It really changed the balance of the car. »

But nothing to prevent Hamilton from being able to once again count on Mercedes' great strategy, and thus achieve an eighth victory this year... in twelve Grands Prix contested. Did you say world champion course?

Discover the full report and analysis of the Hungarian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Budapest, in AUTO issue 2228hebdo, available this evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.