Ross Brawn, the sporting director of Formula 1, said he was impressed by Red Bull’s decision to call in Max Verstappen for a second time at the French GP while he was the race leader.
The French GP at Circuit Paul Ricard rarely produces an exciting race and that is what it seemed to be going for in the early stages of the 2021 edition. But after the first series of pit stops, the spectacle slowly but surely started and after the second series of pit stops, the fans could prepare for an exciting final piece in which Max Verstappen pulled the longest straw at the last minute.
Ross Brawn also says in his column for the official F1 website that he enjoyed the race and admires Red Bull for the audacity they showed in calling Max Verstappen in as leader for a second time.
Mercedes was surprised
“Obviously Mercedes was blown away by the power of the undercut,” said Brawn.
“Obviously, what happened in the race didn’t match the numbers. That was the surprise. Then of course came the question of 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, because then it’s too late. You would be defeated and then you would be obliged to continue for a long time.”
What Red Bull did was daring
“It was very brave of 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 from Red Bull. And that made for a great finish.”
But Brawn also praises Lewis Hamilton’s tire management during his second stint. There he proved that he had better control of tire wear than his teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“Lewis has shown that he can get more out of the tires in difficult conditions than Valtteri, who has clearly put the tires to the test.”
Exciting till the end
“Lewis is a master at stretching his performance as long as possible. Even five laps before the end I wasn’t convinced that Max would do it, that’s how impressive Lewis was during that stint. It could have gone either way.”
Despite the fact that Brawn enjoyed the race, it doesn’t itch anymore to sit back at the pit wall.
“My wife asked me what I would do if I was at the Mercedes pit wall again. I said I was glad I wasn’t on the pit wall. I’m too old and it wouldn’t be good for my blood pressure!” Brawn joked.
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