'Rare to go against the team': Lewis Hamilton defies orders to take British GP

Lewis Hamilton won the British GP on Sunday, but it came after ignoring his team’s order to pit in the final sprint to the finish line.

Hamilton took a 21 second lead over his teammate Valterri Bottas thanks to the help of the safety car, but the Mercedes drivers decided to go with two diverging strategies.

Bottas committed to stopping twice to change to softer tyres, while Hamilton risked a long stint on medium tyres, which ultimately meant he did not need stop again.

But the Englishman said he decided not to stop, in order to change to new tyres so he could guarantee the fastest lap bonus for his team, but instead risked continuing on his tyres.

Hamilton still managed to secure the fastest lap honours.

"I had a pitstop window, but there's the entry of the pitlane, there's the stop, there's extra pressure on the mechanics to do the pitstop - not that I doubt them at all, but you just give a chance to it [to go wrong],” he told Autosport.com.

"I had saved enough in the tyres, I felt good with the hard tyre, I could keep going. I did have some blistering, so I was kind of conflicted, [thinking] should I stop?

"It's rare to go against the team, but I decided today that was the best thing for me,” he added.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said Hamilton made the right call in the end.