Lewis Hamilton has said McLaren-Mercedes' performance in the Turkish Grand Prix at the weekend has only served to strengthen his conviction that the team is the strongest in the
Formula 1 paddock – as he made an unfancied strategy work to come away with second place.
The two Silver Arrows were the only cars in the field to opt for a three-stop strategy in Istanbul, a legacy of the problems the Woking-based outfit suffered there last year, when a late
Bridgestone blow-out cost Hamilton third place – and with it, arguably, the world championship crown.
That said, the Briton raced hard in 2008, moving into second place at the start from third on the grid and going on to harry leader
Felipe Massa for much of the first half of the race, pulling off a superb passing manoeuvre on the Brazilian into the tight, left-hand turn twelve on lap 24.
Though
McLaren's conservative strategy meant he was ultimately unable to challenge the
Ferrari ace for the win, Hamilton's searing pace at least saw him fend off the second scarlet machine of world championship leader
Kimi Raikkonen for the runner-up laurels – in the circumstances, he acknowledged, a victory of sorts.
“I'm thrilled to have come second from third,” the 23-year-old insisted afterwards. “Heikki [Kovalainen – team-mate] did a fantastic job and was able to out-qualify me with more fuel, but after looking at the data I realised I was happy with the tyre choice.
“The reason we went with a three stopper was due to Bridgestone being concerned as they thought the tyre was going to fail like it did last year. Coming into this weekend they thought they had fixed the problem, but somehow we seemed to have the problem again. Therefore, they made us do a three-stop as it was the safest route to go.
