Martin Whitmarsh has praised what he called
Lewis Hamilton's ‘finest race this year' in Istanbul last weekend, suggesting that had the young Briton begun from pole position rather than third on the grid, he may just have won it.
The 23-year-old kept eventual winner
Felipe Massa honest for the opening 24 laps of the Turkish Grand Prix, before boldly passing the
Ferrari star into turn twelve and going on to take the chequered flag less than four seconds adrift of the Brazilian in second place. More significantly still, that was ahead of Massa's team-mate and Hamilton's chief world championship rival
Kimi Raikkonen, reducing the gap separating him from the Finn in the drivers' standings into the bargain.
What's more, the performance came despite having to compete with a disadvantageous three-stop strategy as a result of tyre concerns on his MP4-23, given what had happened to him in the same race last year, when a spectacular blow-out cost the Stevenage-born ace third position – and with it, most likely, the world drivers' crown at season's end. Though team-mate
Heikki Kovalainen was also put on a three-stop strategy on safety grounds, the Finn's less aggressive driving style, Whitmarsh acknowledged, meant he could theoretically have run the race with just two.
“It was a decision we took on Saturday,” the Woking-based concern's CEO explained, “before the third free practice session. We had concerns about tyre durability, although obviously we didn't advertise the fact.
“It affected Lewis in particular, and we took a number of preventative measures. We increased tyre pressures on Saturday morning, but although that addressed the problem to a degree, it didn't so do sufficiently to give us the margin we needed.
“They [Kovalainen and Hamilton] run a slightly different set-up that puts a little bit more load on Lewis' front tyres. He was reasonably aggressive through turn eight and very quick, but he changed his style and racing line on Saturday.
