Mercedes compare Verstappen to a ‘massive bungee cord’ in Russell Baku battle
19:55, 26 Sep
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Kieran is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs and feature content across the F1 calendar. An NQJ-qualified journalist with more than a decade of experience, he has previously written for publications including MailOnline, the Manchester Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press.
Max Verstappen was like a “massive bungee cord” behind George Russell in the closing stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, according to Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord.
The Red Bull driver kept being pulled back into contention by the powerful tow in Baku, despite Russell repeatedly stretching the gap through the middle sector. Lord, however, insisted the Mercedes driver had the fight under control on his way to victory, despite 'one tiny mistake' almost handing the victory to the Dutchman.
Lord explains Verstappen’s ‘bungee cord’ effect
Lord said Russell was able to make up significant time through the middle sector, only for Verstappen to be dragged back towards the Mercedes by the tow.
“It was like Max was on some sort of massive bungee cord and George was stretching it,” Lord explained. He would literally put half a second on him every lap through the middle sector. You look at the GPS trace and suddenly it almost goes vertical as the tow pulls Max back in.”
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The Mercedes chief added that Verstappen appeared, at times, to gain more from the slipstream than he did using overtaking assistance, something he described as 'counterintuitive'.
Despite Verstappen’s late pressure, Lord said the Red Bull driver was never close enough to make a genuine move for the lead.
“Even though it looked very close on the TV pictures, obviously they foreshortened things a little bit,” he said. There wasn’t any point when he was close enough to make an attempt or to contemplate an overtake. So I think George had it all under control.”
Lord did concede that one small error could have cost Russell the win. After an issue with energy deployment, Russell was scared Verstappen would pass him on the run to the line, but held on to win by just under 0.2 seconds. Lord described it as a 'tiny mistake' but praised his driver for an 'absolutely fantastic job'.
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