Lewis Hamilton has revealed a desire to "miss a stop" and pit only for slick tyres was behind his "frustrating" Turkish Grand Prix climax.
After setting the fastest time in qualifying, Hamilton started 11th after being stung by a 10-place penalty for introducing a fourth engine of the season.
With F1 title rival Max Verstappen starting and eventually finishing second behind race-winner Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton gambled on skipping a pit stop in the hope he would not need a second set of intermediate tyres but could go instead to slicks.
“The fact is the track was drying and we didn’t know if it was going to dry or not but it was slowly getting drier," explained Hamilton.
“For me, I was in third at one stage and hopeful that I would miss a stop so everyone else did that inter switch and I was hopeful that if there was another one to slicks, that would gain me positions."
After eventually stopping at the end of lap 50, Hamilton was unable to make the most of his fresh intermediates and suffered from graining.