Lammers sceptical about Red Bull's chances: 'Mercedes had the advantage'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Against all odds, Max Verstappen took victory in the United States Grand Prix on Sunday. Two weeks ago in Turkey, Red Bull Racing had to watch Valtteri Bottas drive to a dominant victory, which raised question marks in many quarters. Jan Lammers remains as sceptical as ever.
After the Turkish GP Lammers was still unsure about the chances of Verstappen and Red Bull. In the F1 podcast of the NOS he is asked if he expected this setback from Red Bull. "No, but they didn't actually have that. Mercedes just missed out on that win. That shows how clever it is what Max did yesterday. You could clearly see that Mercedes were definitely just as fast."
"I think Mercedes just left it yesterday, with that pit stop they left it. I find it crazy that they take the loss so early. Verstappen makes that pit stop, but because of that late pit stop Mercedes already accepted the loss. Let's also not forget that in that penultimate lap Max was lucky with the DRS he took from Mick Schumacher, what would have happened if he didn't have it?"
Mercedes had the advantage
According to Toto Wolff, Hamilton would not have been faster if they had stopped earlier, but according to Lammers that is not true. "From that I say, that's a comment that's convenient for him. I think Mercedes still had a slight advantage and had the car to win."
"That makes it an amazing performance from Max and Red Bull that they pulled out the win. We saw a qualifying that was comparably good. I think it's a very nice win for this very reason. In terms of material, maybe Mercedes should have won", said Lammers.