There is no denying that Lewis Hamilton had a rollercoaster of an afternoon at Istanbul Park on Sunday. From standing tall as one of the prime candidates to claim podium, his hopes drastically deteriorated and ultimately ended his race down in P5.

Of course, the prime reason for this late downfall is the varying opinion between Hamilton and his team, Mercedes. While the Briton wanted to stay out on the track until the very end of the race, his team suggested otherwise.

And by the time the duo arrived at a consensus, it was too late, as Hamilton ended up losing his podium spot to Perez and an extra spot to Leclerc. The seven-time world champion was absolutely fuming on the team radio. He further reckoned he should have followed his ‘gut’ rather than listening to the team during the post-race interview.

Well, the situation has quietened a bit down, and Hamilton found this as the perfect opportunity to express his opinion on the Turkish GP incident.

What did Lewis Hamilton say?

The Mercedes driver took to Instagram to affirm that he wasn’t furious with the team at all, as the tricky conditions made the decision-making much harder than expected. Hence, Hamilton openly clarified that pitting was the safest decision rather than his opinion to stay out till the end of the race.

“Good morning world! I’ve seen some of the press this morning which has made a bit too much of the incident in yesterday’s race of when to pit. It isn’t true to say I’m furious with my team. As a team, we work hard to build the best strategy possible,” he wrote on Instagram.

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“But, as the race progresses, you have to make split decisions. There are so many factors constantly changing. Yesterday, we took the risk to stay out hoping it would dry. It didn’t. I wanted to risk it and try and go to the end. But, it was my call to stay out and it didn’t work. In the end, we did pit and it was the safest thing to do.”

Lewis Hamilton Beats Himself Up for Not Following ‘My Gut’ in Crucial F1 Strategy Call at Turkey

Never expect me to be polite on the radio: Hamilton

The seven-time world champion further spoke about his brief outburst on the team radio after pitting for the new set of intermediates.

“Don’t expect me to be all polite and calm on the radio when I’m racing. We are all very passionate and in the heat of the moment, that passion can come out, as it does for all drivers. 

“My heart and spirit are out there on the track. It’s the fire in me that’s got me this far but any angst is quickly forgotten and we talked it through. Already looking ahead to the next race,” he concluded.

Overall, the heat has visibly gone down, with Hamilton acknowledging his mistake of opting against Mercedes’ call to pit in Istanbul. And it is highly likely that Hamilton will be yearning to hit the track again for his next battle with Verstappen.

The next race is due in a couple of weeks’ time at the COTA in the United States. So, can the seven-time world champion bounce back to reclaim his lead from the Dutchman? We’ll know soon enough.

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