Brawn sees Verstappen's preparation as masterful: 'A la Schumacher'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Ross Brawn chooses Max Verstappen as his 'Driver of the Day.' The Dutchman won the Mexican Grand Prix with flying colors. According to Brawn it was the unparalleled preparation of Verstappen that provided the extra push in the first corner.
Brawn chooses Verstappen as Driver of the Day
Verstappen started from P3, but already had the lead after about ten seconds. The Red Bull driver flew around the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the first corner.
Although Bottas did not make things difficult for the Dutchman, Brawn thinks that it was a good preparation of Verstappen to take P1 in the first corner. Brawn writes in his column on F1.com:
"Max gets my vote because of his control in the first corner, the perfect restart after the safety car and how he didn't let anyone get close."
Preparation à la Schumacher
Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner revealed after the race that Verstappen had spent a lot of time assessing all the possible strategies he could employ at the start. Brawn sees a resemblance to seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
"It reminds me of how Schumacher used to take long walks along the track on Thursdays before the weekend. He would watch corners and look for escape routes in case something went wrong. That gave him more confidence to make an aggressive move."
That's exactly what Brawn ended up seeing happen on Sunday in Verstappen's cockpit: "Max sussed out the first corner very well and had the confidence to make the move."