Formula 1 managing director Ross Brawn talks about the Turkish Grand Prix pit stop situation between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton was called in for his first pit stop at the Turkish Grand Prix while he was running in P3 on his first set of intermediate tyres. He refused to go in as he believed the tyres would probably last until the end of the race.
After a bit more back and forth between Lewis and the team, he ultimately went in on Lap 50, with eight laps remaining. This pushed him down to P5, where he would finish.
In his Formula1.com column Ross Brawn gave his thoughts on the situation.
“Once again teams were faced with a very difficult strategic decision,” said the Briton.
“In these scenarios, you’re trusting your judgment, experience and feel. As we saw with Lewis, there was a fair bit of initial resistance from within the car about pitting.
“When these situations are not clear-cut and you get a push back from the driver, it’s easy for a team to back off what they feel was the right decision.
“The driver is in a bubble. They need to give you information, but what they can’t see is all the data being fed to the pit wall.
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“In Lewis’ case if he didn’t box and the tyres had gone away or there had been a light rain shower, he would have tumbled down the order and that would have been a disaster.”
Brawn also picked race winner Valtteri Bottas as his Driver of the Day.
“There were several good drives out there, including Carlos Sainz’s brilliant recovery drive from the back to score points, but my Driver of the Day goes to Valtteri Bottas.
“He did not put a foot wrong in very difficult conditions. Mercedes had a very good car, but he made the most of it – and never allowed a threat from behind.
“He’s the outgoing member of the team and in this scenario, it is easy to drop your chin, but he kept his up and I think he did a brilliant job. We all know Max is supreme in those wet conditions, but he couldn’t touch Valtteri.
“He showed us that if Alfa can give him the car next year, he’ll respond and make the most of it,” Brawn concluded.