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Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola believes that Max Verstappen could have lasted to the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix on his hard.
The Dutchman pitted for a second time after being overtaken by Lewis Hamilton in the final laps for the lead of the race, fitting a new set of soft tyres which saw him take the fastest lap.
Verstappen was heard over the radio stating that his hard tyres were "dead", however Isola says that looking at the tyre after the race, he isn't convinced by the reported severity of the wear.
"No, I don't believe that," he said. "Looking at the tyres I don't believe that it was a problem. We didn't have any issue on the wear here, it was just a strategic decision based on the degradation."
Hamilton made a second pit stop with 22 laps left to run in race, after he followed Verstappen in second place for the entire race up to that point.
On fresh tyres, he was able to close in on Verstappen and take the lead of the race and secure his eighth win of the season.
Isola says that Red Bull understood the advantage that Mercedes had after the stop, and soon decided that it would pit Verstappen should he be overtaken in order to take the extra point for the fastest lap.
"The reality is that Mercedes after the second stop was much quicker, and so Max saw it. There was very little he could do at that point.
"Looking at the level of degradation and wear on the tyres they performed as we expected. It was more on strategic decisions made on the teams but the tyres were looking well. Obviously, Verstappen just pitted on the end to get the fastest lap."
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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This is the problem of one supplier to F1 . what utter arrogance racing with pace to the end or surviving are 2 different things. Wonder if Isola drives a mercedes