Lewis Hamilton 2011 McLaren F1 Team MP4/26 1:8 Scale Model - Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton was in his fifth year with McLaren in 2011, having had a stella junior career and a nearly perfect start to life in F1. 2009 World Champion, Jenson Button was in just his second year with the team. Hamilton famously nearly won the championship in 2007, taking on his far more experienced teammate, Fernando Alonso. The year afterwards, at just 23 years old, Hamilton won the 2008 World Championship. In 2011, McLaren were going through a more difficult phase in their car development and both Hamilton and Button were struggling to compete with Red Bull and Ferrari.   Nevertheless, Button managed to start on the front-row and Lewis Hamilton qualified on the second row of the grid for the Chinese GP. When the race got underway, McLaren were aware that the tyres were sensitive to overheating, and therefore opted for a more aggressive three-stop strategy, in contrast with Vettel’s two stopper.   With a more aggressive strategy, the British driving pair knew that