F1 News

Brawn believes fastest lap point livened up closing stages

Brawn believes fastest lap point "livened up closing stages"

20-03-2019 11:30
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Bobby Vincent

Formula 1 boss Ross Brawn believes the addition of an extra point for the fastest lap set by a driver "livened up" the final stages of the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Starting from this season, a driver will be awarded an extra point for setting the quickest lap on the grid - but, the driver HAS to finish inside the top 10 for the point to be valid.

The first extra point was won by Valtteri Bottas - who won the race - and ignored team orders from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and went for the 26 points altogether.

Max Verstappen and Bottas' team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who completed the podium, were also determined to bag themselves the extra point - with Ferrari seemingly not giving it as much of a go as they could have with its drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc in P4 and P5, respectively.

F1 boss Brawn was very pleased with the first race that the extra point was available and believes it "livened up" the latter stages of the race, with the top drivers determined to get the extra point for their team.

"The return to awarding a point to the driver and team who set the race's fastest lap livened up the closing stages of the race, as Verstappen tried to nudge out Bottas, who had his hands on that particular prize," Brawn told Motorsport.com.

"In a race in which the podium positions seemed set from early on, the fight to claim that one extra point, in the knowledge that it could be vitally important in the closing stages of the championship, certainly livened up the closing stages of the race.

"That was exactly what we and the FIA had in mind when it came up with the new idea."