Vasseur: “Hamilton’s stop? I would make that choice again”

One-two vanished and three points lost After Max Verstappen’s accident in the final stages of the British Grand Prix, the stewards decided to bring in the Safety Car. At that moment the race was led by the two Ferraris, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes.
The pit wall led by Frederic Vasseur therefore found itself faced with a choice that was anything but simple: deciding whether or not to call Hamilton back to the pits – knowing that Russell could have opted for the opposite move. Ferrari and Hamilton, an indigestible Safety Car The Safety Car was called on track on the 48th of the 52 laps, Hamilton returned to the pits and Russell remained on the track. The safety car then led the group to the finish line, making the choice of the Ferrari wall unsuccessful. Leclerc thus won ahead of Russell and Hamilton: the prospect of a possible Red double at Silverstone vanished and the English champion lost 3 world championship points. In the usual meeting with journalists at the end of the British Grand Prix weekend, team principal Frederic Vasseur defended the team’s choice: “We expected an immediate restart and we were surprised that the Safety Car remained on the track for so long. In any case, if we hadn’t stopped, Russell would have done it. He would have had new tires and we would have had used hard tires and we would have risked losing the race. So if I had to make that choice again now, I would do it again in a second”, stated the transalpine manager.

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-07-07 05:00:00