Lewis Hamilton said Mercedes made the right decision by splitting the tyre strategies used on his car and that of team mate George Russell.
The pair finished fourth and fifth, Russell ahead, having started on the soft tyres on the second row. Hamilton, who lined up 12th, used the medium rubber.
The seven-times world champion, who gained six positions in the final eight laps, said the differing strategies allowed Mercedes to collect valuable data ahead of today’s Qatar Grand Prix.
“If I’d started on the soft, I would have gained several places at the beginning,” said Hamilton. “But then long down the road I would have struggled just like anybody else.
“So I think it was important for us to separate the cars. George could get information on the soft and I could get my information, so this is how we work together as a team.”
Russell was leading by lap three on his softs before tyre wear caused his lap times to drop off. He was unable to prevent Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris from re-passing him.
Hamilton struggled to make progress at the start on his harder tyres. “It was difficult to start off with, obviously the medium tyre just wasn’t firing [up] the same as the soft tyre,” Hamilton added.
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“The soft guys were so quick, so [I was] gaining positions, losing positions. I actually had a really good start, but then I got stuck behind Perez.
“But once we got going and they started to have the impact on their tyre I was able to then start having these battles, and it was so much fun to have those deltas between the cars and I hope there’s something like that tomorrow.”
His pursuit of a points finish was aided by a collision between Perez, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg on lap 11. Hamilton climbed up to eighth from eleventh as a result.
“I just tried to stay out of trouble,” he said. “I could see all these things happening before they happened. I was like, ‘I need to go to the casino’ just because I could see which number was going off.”
The Mercedes driver will start today’s race in third behind pole winner Verstappen and Russell.
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