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Formula 1 managing director Ross Brawn says that even five laps from the end of the French Grand Prix, he wasn’t sure Max Verstappen would be able to overtake Lewis Hamilton.
The ending of the French Grand Prix was a nail-biter. Max Verstappen, on a two-stop strategy and fresh medium tyres, was gaining on Lewis Hamilton who was doing his best to hold off his rival on old worn-down hards.
Ultimately Verstappen managed to overtake Hamilton on the penultimate lap of the race, but Ross Brawn says he wasn’t sure until the very end if Max would be able to do it.
“What Lewis demonstrated was his ability to bring more out of tyres in difficult circumstances compared with Valtteri, who obviously took more life out of the tyres,” Brawn wrote in his Formula1.com column.
“Lewis is a master of eking out performance. I still wasn’t convinced that even five laps from the end, Max was going to do it, so impressive was Lewis on that stint. It could have gone either way.
“My wife asked me ‘what would I be doing if I was back on the Mercedes pit wall?’ and I said I‘m glad I’m not on the pit wall. I’m too old and it wouldn’t be good for my blood pressure!”
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What led to Mercedes’ decision to leave Lewis on a one-stop strategy was a situation that happened during the first pit stops, when Red Bull performed a successful undercut that allowed Verstappen to get ahead of the Briton.
Later in the race, when Verstappen had a few seconds advantage over Lewis, Red Bull went for another undercut, that left Mercedes with no other option but to go long and hope the seven-time champion would be able to nurse his tyres until the end.
Brawn agrees Mercedes had no choice other than to try and make it until the end on old tyres.
“It’s clear Mercedes were caught out by the potency of the undercut. Clearly what played out in the race didn’t match the numbers. That was the surprise.
“Then, of course, it was who pulled the trigger first with a possible second stop. Once someone pulls the trigger for a second stop, you can’t pit a lap later as it’s too late. You would be beaten.
“You are then committed to going long. It was quite brave from Red Bull to do it from a leading position. But they didn’t want a repeat of Barcelona.
“It was a really competitive and aggressive approach for Red Bull. And that created a great finish.”
Valtteri Bottas unfortunately wasn’t as successful in keeping his tyres fresh, so he was overtaken by both Verstappen and Sergio Perez to finish fourth.
He did however complain over the radio that Mercedes should have listened to him when he asked to be put on a two-stop strategy.
While Brawn sympathizes with the Finn, he thinks the professionals at Mercedes should be trusted when it comes to strategy.
“Valtteri has been having an extremely difficult time of late. He looked quite strong this weekend but was the biggest victim of Mercedes’ strategy.
“For a driver who probably had a view on what they should be doing, when the final analysis shows that that’s what they should have done, I can imagine how difficult that is.
“I would say in fairness to Mercedes, if you followed what drivers wanted regarding strategy, I think the success percentage would decrease.
“There are definitely occasions when a driver’s view should be followed but they are majorly outweighed by the team getting it right as they have all the information and, in Mercedes’ case, they have engineers with more than 20 years of experience.
“It will be fascinating to see how they handle this pressure. It is the first time they have come under such pressure in seven years and the first time under Toto’s reign.”
