Peter Windsor: Lewis Hamilton “absolutely right” to question Ferrari pit strategy

F1 expert Peter Windor says Lewis Hamilton was “absolutely right” to question Ferrari’s pit stop strategy at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Hamilton equalled his best result in a grand prix on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring as he finished fourth, one place behind Ferrari F1 teammate Charles Leclerc.

The seven-time world champion’s wait for a first podium goes on as he looks to do so at this home race at Silverstone this weekend.

Hamilton wasn’t entirely happy with Ferrari’s decision to bring him into the pits for a second time on Lap 50.

Hamilton requested to extend his stint, as he was running ahead of Leclerc at the time, who had just made his final stop.

However, Hamilton’s request was ignored.

When race engineer Riccardo Adami asked Hamilton to pit, Hamilton replied, “I don’t want to stop.”

After the race, Hamilton conceded that Ferrari had made the correct strategy call to bring him in.

Hamilton was behind Franco Colapinto and unable to reel in the Alpine driver he was trying to lap.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Windsor, a former F1 team manager and journalist, believes Hamilton was right to question Ferrari.

“Lewis Hamilton was complaining on his second stop that he shouldn’t have been brought in [to the pits]. And I think he was probably right because he wasn’t using the tyres that much and could’ve got to the finish,” Windsor said.

“But Ferrari were just locked into it being a top-stopper and Pirelli predicted before the race that all cars would run two stops, but guess who didn’t run a two-stop? Liam Lawson and Fernando Alonso. They did a one-stop and had great results.

“So I think Lewis is absolutely right to say he didn’t want to come in, but why is that conversation taking place in the middle of the race? What is going on at Ferrari?”

It’s not the first time Hamilton or Leclerc have complained over team radio.

Leclerc’s request to switch to a one-stop strategy was ignored at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Leclerc felt it was his only chance to fight for a Montreal podium.

Encouraging weekend for Ferrari

The Austrian GP proved to be an encouraging weekend for Ferrari as Leclerc picked up his fourth podium finish of the season.

While Leclerc finished nearly 20 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris, it was a positive step forward for Ferrari, who were comfortably the second-fastest team.

Ferrari introduced a revised floor upgrade in Austria, which aided their performance.

Their race pace continues to be limited by an ongoing brake problem, which forces both drivers to lift and coast.

Leclerc was told within the opening dozen laps to start managing his pace.

Ferrari are likely to bring a number of other upgrades across the next few European rounds as they try to close the gap to McLaren.