Quote Originally Posted by Bagwan View Post
Had he kept the same pace , as Nico approached quickly , he would have been holding him up .
And , as it was , he didn't end up able to even really get a look into passing the Ferrari , a car with far less pace in it .
It was a great drive from the back , but , in my opinion , he could have played it smarter and had a real chance at the win .
His real chance to win was denied, when the team didn't switch him to the faster 3 stop strategy, which would have meant him staying ahead of the red bull and probably passing the ferrari.
In the previous race they (correctly) gambled on the SC and sorta lost out a bit, but typically the mercedes team seem too dogged to switch up strategies and actually optimize their situation.
that is the whole reason for the 6 guys on the pitwall and dozens of engineers both at the track and back in the factory. It was so obvious to fans and commentators, bur seemingly oblivious to the team.
Perhaps the thing that Hamilton did wrong was not insisting on coming in for a 3rd stop, but nothing else. He did play it smart with the situation he was in and the cars around him.

Nico showed no zeal to make a proper pass, and actually was not good enough to pass vergne which probably held up Hamilton as well. and as many have said, slowing down to let rosberg bye would surely have meant him finishing behind rosberg and deliberately giving away points to his championship rival. The team has already come out and acknowledged the poor decision and mistake of issuing those orders and that Hamilton was right to pursue his race. So, yes he played it smarter and managed to finish on the podium and more importantly, ahead of his championship rival.