Breaking news
Formula 1 Italian GP
Hamilton: Degrading tyres meant no chance of Monza recovery
Lewis Hamilton says that the characteristics of Formula 1's current tyres left him unable to mount a fightback against Nico Rosberg to try to win the Italian Grand Prix.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Sep 6, 2016, 4:40 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The world champion suffered a terrible getaway at Monza as he dropped from pole position to sixth place on the first lap as Rosberg pulled away in the lead.
Although Hamilton was able to recover positions, he found himself unable to close down enough of the 15-seconds advantage that Rosberg had managed to open up.
And having been so dominant in qualifying, when he took pole position by nearly half a second, Hamilton said that the behaviour of F1's degrading tyres meant that if he had pushed to chase Rosberg then he would have used up all his rubber.
"It [the gap] was 15 seconds at one point, and I brought it down to 9-10s or something like that," he said. "But unfortunately that's too big a gap to close with the tyres that we have. For performance, I had to make it to the end of the race.
"It soon became not a race with Nico, it became a race of making sure I stayed ahead of the guys behind and didn't lose any more points."
Ask to explain in more detail the balance between being able to push hard while also looking after tyres, Hamilton said: "I could have kept going at the pace that I was going, maybe it would have brought the gap down to 6 seconds, maybe. It's still not enough to win the race.
"To close a 15-second gap, you're going to have to go several tenths quicker, three-four probably, over that span of time, and you're not going to have any tyres left at the end of it. That's a big question.
"I might have, I might not have, but for sure if I had ever closed the gap I wouldn't have had tyres to get past at least.
"If I was eight seconds behind from the beginning, then I would have closed the gap. Then I would have put some pressure on, and maybe been in a better position. But 15 seconds is a long, long way to come back with the way the tyres are today.
"Nico drove a great race. He was obviously faultless and did what he had to do. Once you're out in front here, it's relatively plain and simple, keeping the car on the track.
"Falling back to fifth, I used so much of my tyres just to get back through the field. When they told me he was 15 seconds ahead… It was the whole back straight, 10 to 11 seconds. I couldn't even see Nico.
"All he had to do was match some of my times, and he was sorted. If we had better grip and I could push like a qualifying lap every lap, that would be awesome, but it's not been the case for a long time."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Verstappen says bad start was because of team error
Next article Tech debrief: Why Mercedes was a league apart at Monza
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Lewis Hamilton
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Why Ferrari caved in to Lewis Hamilton’s failed Singapore F1 gamble
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Why Ferrari caved in to Lewis Hamilton’s failed Singapore F1 gamble
More from
Mercedes
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
George Russell calls Red Bull "the team to beat" in F1, but Kimi Antonelli adds a key caveat
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
George Russell calls Red Bull "the team to beat" in F1, but Kimi Antonelli adds a key caveat
Latest news
Dale Jr. explains why he doesn't use 'Earnhardt' in his signature
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 37 min
Dale Jr. explains why he doesn't use 'Earnhardt' in his signature
NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
1 h
NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe