McLaren ignored Bridgestone’s advice

The McLaren team reportedly ignored the pleas of tire manufacturers Bridgestone to call in Lewis Hamilton earlier during the Chinese GP. With his tires losing grip, the team belatedly called in the World Championship leader on lap 31. However, by that stage, Hamilton's tires were so bare that he was unable to negotiate the pitlane entry and crashed out of the race. 'Although nobody at the tire company would comment on the matter, it is understood that the Bridgestone engineers told McLaren to abandon their gamble of keeping Hamilton going with wearing tires to avoid having to make an extra pit stop for fuel later in the race,' reports The Guardian. 'At the time Raikkonen, in second place, was slicing several seconds a lap off Hamilton's lead.' Planet F1