Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has said he did think about ignoring the call to pit for a second time, the crucial decision that led to him seizing the win away from Red Bull. Hamilton had pitted five laps later than Max Verstappen at the first round of stops, utilising the fresher tyres to catch up on the back of the Red Bull again. Staring at the back of the Dutch driver's car, Hamilton dived again into the pits with 22 laps to go to take the initiative of a two stop strategy. With Red Bull unable to respond fast enough to Mercedes' call, Hamilton was able to catch back up and pass Verstappen with six laps remaining, but he admitted afterwards he did second-guess the pit call. "We went through the whole weekend making sure we still had two fresh mediums for if you have to do two stop, even though a one stop potentially looks better. "I know from experience that a one stop is very, very hard to pull off. And, as soon as we had the pace that we had, I knew as soon as I could get past him if I could, and I was about to have a shot again on him right before I pitted right at the end, and I was really conflicted. "I thought 'do I come in, or do I ignore the call and stay out?' but obviously I did what the team asked, because it's a great trust between us, but it was a remarkable job by everyone on the team. What a day!"
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