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Hakkinen: "It's understandable that things went wrong twice at Mercedes"
- GPblog.com
According to Mika Hakkinen, it makes sense somewhere that Mercedes was the team that suffered the most punctures in the British Grand Prix. At the Silverstone circuit, both Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton had to cope with a tyre that broke down in the closing stages of the race.
The explanation Hakkinen gives for this is that the W11 is simply the fastest and therefore also demands the most of the tyres. "The Mercedes cars were one second per lap faster than everyone else in qualifying at Silverstone, and in the race they were also on another level. This means they will be putting more energy through the tyres, so in some ways the double-failure at Mercedes is understandable," said the former world champion in his column for Unibet.
Pirelli needs to develop a tyre that is suitable for different levels of performance every year. Mercedes raced so aggressively on the British circuit that the tyres didn't keep it.
Front tires had a hard time
"The problem with following a car is that your front tyres have to work harder. This is caused by the turbulent air from the car in front reducing the aerodynamic efficiency of your front wing, which means that your front tyres are having more energy put through them," continues Hakinnen, who can well understand why Bottas had to get new rubber in the final laps of the Grand Prix. The Finn was breathing down Hamilton's neck the whole race.