The McLaren team insists that it has no regrets about the gameplan it followed for
Lewis Hamilton during Sunday's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, despite the fact that it could have cost the championship leader the race win.
Although Hamilton coming through to win having been in fifth place after his 'green flag' stop makes the Woking team's analysis of the situation easier, CEO martin Whitmarsh insists that it would have been the right decision even of the Briton had failed to overhaul
Felipe Massa and
Nelson Piquet Jr.
“If you're a leading team and you get it wrong, then you're going to face criticism," he explained, "But hindsight is always 20:20, and we feel we made the right decisions based on the tough choices available to us.
"Don't forget, too, that it was less clear-cut for Lewis because we had fuelled him longer than the other cars at his first pit-stop. We had a bigger fuel window than the other teams, who were much closer to their second pit-stop when the safety car was deployed. Therefore, it was a much easier call for them than it was for us. I'm sure the decision for
Ferrari was far more straightforward - they probably weren't going to beat us - and, if the tables had been turned, we'd doubtless have faced criticism if Massa had stayed out, jumped us and then capitalised on his advantage with a late splash-and-dash to the finish.
"But let's not forget that
Nick Heidfeld also made the strategy work, staying out under the safety car and finishing fourth, so the strategy remained a valid one.”
Whitmarsh went on to explain that Hamilton's pace in the opening stint of the race had been enough to convince
McLaren's strategists that he could make up any ground lost during the stop.
