Mercedes 'checkmate' by Red Bull in France

Max Verstappen's victory in France was one of the best, as Verstappen had to pull out all the stops to overtake Lewis Hamilton before the end of the race. He did so and Sergio Perez also passed Valtteri Bottas, bringing two Red Bull drivers to the podium. Verstappen's victory was the result of both his own driving and the team's perfectly judged strategy, reminiscent of Mercedes' previous winning strategies.

Two-Stopper

Valtteri Bottas could be heard frustrated over the radio at the end of the race, as he wondered why his suggestion of a two-stopper was ignored. In retrospect, this could have saved the race for Mercedes, but in reality it's all a little more complex. In the new Mercedes debrief Andrew Shovlin looks back at the French Grand Prix.

"In the meeting with the drivers on Sunday morning we thought it would be a one-stopper, also we thought we would have to do some management. The track was quite different on Sunday, we had some rain, clouds and it was much, much cooler." The changed weather conditions had an effect on the car and tyre wear, but from that situation Mercedes deemed their retained strategy the correct one.

That's then based purely on material, but during the race the team of course also had to deal with the direct competitor.

Not a luxury

Bringing Hamilton in a second time would have been a tricky situation, because Sergio Perez could have been an obstacle, says Shovlin. Verstappen was not bothered by that after his second stop, as Perez allowed him to pass easily. In a two-stop situation for Hamilton, he would have had to pass Perez first, which is of course more difficult if he doesn't pull over spontaneously. Or in the words of Shovlin: "We don't have that luxury."

If they had brought Bottas in, that wouldn't have done much either. Because the age of the tyres would not have been so different that Bottas could have overtaken Perez again. On top of that, there's a general Red Bull advantage and that's pace, Shovlin says: "He would have had to deal with the pace on the straight that the Red Bull had."

Or in other words, the situation thanks to Verstappen's first pit stop, coming onto the track ahead of Hamilton and then doing the two-stopper, turned the strategic game around, with Red Bull holding all the cards. It is clear from what Shovlin said that Mercedes did not want to take a risk and they wanted to go for the best they could and that ended up being the outcome of the race.