17/07/2017
NEWS STORY
In the wake of the tyre failures that affected Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel on successive laps at the end of the British Grand Prix, not to mention a late stop to change tyres for Max Verstappen also - though Red Bull subsequently admitted this was a precautionary measure - heading towards his fourth successive Silverstone win, Lewis Hamilton opted not to take any unnecessary risks.
"The team said generally it wouldn't be a problem," the Briton told reporters when asked if he was cautious in the close moments of the race, "but blistering did appear.
"Then I heard about the blow-ups and I backed off," he admitted. "I went basically to half or sixty percent throttle everywhere, so I was really slow the last two laps. I was basically three or four seconds off the pace.
"I just wanted to bring it home," he said. "I had a 19s gap so fortunately I could have gone slower, but I didn't feel I needed to."
Ahead of a full investigation, according to Pirelli, initial checks have revealed that the two left-front failures the Ferrari duo suffered were unrelated.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone, here.