Brawn praises Ferrari Baku tactics despite Mercedes win

Formula 1 managing director Ross Brawn believes Ferrari out-played Mercedes on strategy during qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Italian team had opted to run the more durable but slower medium tyres in Q2 in an attempt to give both Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc an advantage going into the race on Sunday.

Although Leclerc's subsequent crash derailed any hopes of Ferrari's bold call paying off, Brawn insisted the team had the right idea and added the Monegasque driver would learn from his crash.

In his post-race debrief, Brawn said he felt Ferrari had the right strategy by trying to get Vettel and Leclerc through to Q3 on the medium tyres.

“The decision to try to qualify in Q2 on the medium tyre was the right one in my opinion, because on the softs, Mercedes had shown they had a better race pace on Friday afternoon,” said Brawn.

“If Charles had managed to get ahead of them in Q3 – and there was a chance of that – and then run a long first stint, as he went on to do, then he would have been in with a good chance of finishing at the front.

“Unfortunately for him, despite a strong climb up the order, he finished fifth, for the third time this year. And I doubt that taking an extra point for setting the fastest race lap would have cheered him up.

"However, even after this race, he bears all the hallmarks of a driver on the way up, destined for great things.”