“Generally speaking, when you are leading a grand prix and showing good pace, you are more risk-averse than those behind you," he reasoned, "The first stint of the race clearly showed we had an inherent performance advantage over the rest of the field – so much so, in fact, that we felt comfortable about bringing Lewis in early for his first pit-stop and fuelling him long for his second stint.
"When the safety car was deployed, we evaluated the options and felt that keeping Lewis out and running low-fuel on a clear track outweighed the potential difficulties of pitting him, which could have dropped him down the pack and would also have penalised Heikki, who would have been forced to queue in the pit-lane behind Lewis.
"We were also affected by a number of contributing factors that we couldn't have foreseen when we made the call. Firstly, the safety car stayed out for longer than we had anticipated, which meant the number of laps available for Lewis to pull out an advantage was reduced. Secondly, more cars pitted than we expected – this meant there was less traffic between Lewis and Felipe after the safety car came in. Finally, we felt Lewis would have an advantage running on low-fuel with used tyres - in fact, the track evolution shifted to give greater benefit to cars fuelled heavily. That made his job harder.”
Hamilton rejoined the race in fifth place, but made up to spots almost immediately with easy passage past team-mate
Heikki Kovalainen and as a result of Heidfeld pitting 'under green' from the lead of the race. The Briton then closed in on, and clinically despatched, both Massa and Piquet to lead the final eleven laps and win by 5.5secs.
"I think we probably should have come in but, at the end of the day, I don't understand exactly what's going on behind me, and I have to have full confidence in the guys who tell me what to do," Hamilton said after the chequered flag had fallen.
