He noted, “It’s a cliché to say: ‘Well, where did that come from?’ – but it has to be asked because I suppose you would say in the debrief afterward when it’s all quiet: ‘21.3, Lewis! What were you doing [for the rest of the race]?'”
Windsor suggested that Hamilton’s ability to post such a fast lap on worn tires could be attributed to his meticulous tire management in the preceding laps. However, it raised questions about how much faster he could have raced earlier in the race.
He posed an intriguing hypothetical scenario, saying, “if Lewis had known that the tires were going to last to the point where he could do a 1:21.3 on the last lap, how much quicker would he have driven – how much more would he have pushed the tires – over the previous 12 laps?”
Despite the unanswered questions, Windsor acknowledged the unique dynamics of the race, where Verstappen had no chance to respond to Hamilton’s late surge since it occurred on the final lap.
