Formula One news - Max Verstappen relieved Red Bull strategy paid off in French Grand Prix win
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ByEurosport
Updated 20/06/2021 at 15:53 GMT
A fantastic tactical drive from Max Verstappen and Red Bull saw the Dutchman overtake Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap and win a thrilling French Grand Prix. Verstappen was pleased he was able to secure victory having being overtaken at Turn One while Hamilton felt the result was a good one for Mercedes after a difficult weekend for the team.
Max Verstappen
Image credit: Getty Images
Max Verstappen was relieved his team's strategy paid off as he extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton after winning the French Grand Prix.
The Belgian-Dutch driver used fresh tyres after a second pit stop before overtaking Hamilton, who made just the one, on lap 52 of 53 to win a memorable race on Sunday.
Verstappen now leads the F1 championship by 12 points and says he was able to enjoy the victory in the end.
"Towards the end, yes (I enjoyed it)!" he said.
"At the beginning it was super difficult out there with the wind so one lap we had an okay balance, then the next lap you were sliding everywhere.
"When we made the first pit stop then you could as they were pushing me on the hard tyres behind but then when we made the call to do the two stopper, luckily in the end it paid off.
"We had to work hard for it, but very rewarding."
Hamilton said he was pleased with how he and the team performed after difficulties in practice and qualifying.
"They [Red Bull] just had the better strength all weekend," he said.
"Considering we had such a difficult Friday, I'm really happy with today's result. Of course we didn't win and we were in the lead but I had no tyres left at the end and unfortunately lost the position. But still a good race.
"We've got to find some pace, that's for sure. You have seen most of the time we lost today was on the straights. So we've got to dig deep, figure out where that is, whether it's power or drag.
"We've still got a good package. I'm not really sure how we lost position today [at the first stop].
We didn't know how strong that was going be or not [the undercut]. Obviously they had a good strategy and it worked really well for them.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admits they came "a few seconds short" after their strategy failed to neutralise Red Bull's undercutting approach.
"We took the lead after Verstappen's mistake at the start," he told Sky Sports F1.
"So that's basically how we inherited the lead, but we had a good pace after that and even had some margin."
He added: "We came up a few seconds short. We lost it somewhere, he had a flat side on one of his tires and a lot of vibration. So he had to stop. Otherwise that band would have died sooner or later."
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