Lewis Hamilton compared his Pirelli tyres to balloons on Sunday after he and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas suffered serious blist...
Lewis Hamilton compared his Pirelli tyres to balloons on Sunday after he and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas suffered serious blistering problems at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
Just a week after his dramatic victory on three wheels, with a punctured fourth, at the British Grand Prix, Hamilton admitted he was afraid one of his tyres might explode.
Three cars had suffered tyre failures at Silverstone last weekend, but Pirelli pressed ahead with a decision to introduce softer tyres running at higher pressures than previously, much to the concern of many teams.
The two Mercedes drivers finished second and third in an unexpected upset result that saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen storm to his first win of the season and ninth of his career.
Hamilton said Mercedes had struggled with their tyres and had no immediate answer to the problem.
“It was a massive challenge today,” he said. “But congratulations to Red Bull, and to Max. They did a great job.
“They didn’t have the problems that we had and it was unexpected for us to have the blistering as hard-core as we experienced.”
He said he was glad to have survived the race without a puncture and to have found some pace to claim second at the finish.
“I’m grateful to have progressed like I did. I was pushing pretty...
