Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has rowed back on his initial comments that he believed the tyres brought to Portugal were too hard. Speaking after Friday practice, Hamilton complained that the tyres Pirelli brought for Portimao were too hard . Pirelli brought along the C1, C2 and C3 compounds, the hardest from their range, and this ensured a one stop strategy was the favoured one. However, after winning the race on Sunday, Hamilton felt Pirelli had been right after all, as their choices ensured the drivers were able to push consistently through the race. "[At] this track, there’s not a huge amount of grip," Hamilton explained to select members of the media, including RacingNews365. "You’ve got the hardest compounds but being that they are the hardest compounds means that they can do the race distance and there’s not a huge amount of wear, so you can push every single lap and I think that’s great. "There are races we’ve been in in the past where we have to do a lot of lift and coasts, slow down to make the tyre go the distance because the pit lane is so long. So I think it was the right tyre for this weekend." With Hamilton able to follow both Verstappen and Bottas for several laps before attacking and passing them, it appeared unusual that the reigning Champion didn't seem to suffer from tyre overheating that most drivers seem to when following other cars closely. Asked as to why that might be, Hamilton said that he felt he had got the balance of the car right for the race. "With the tyres, it’s really… I guess it’s just knowledge of the tyres, really and knowing which ones you can lean on and where you can… I can’t really say too much, to be honest," Hamilton explained. "I think everyone was pushing and they put on their tyres. I think I just managed to get the balance pretty sweet, better for the race than it was for qualifying."
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