Mercedes explain why they overruled George Russell with crucial pit call in Brazil

Mercedes have admitted the possibility of a red flag wasn’t part of their thinking when they decided to pit George Russell from the lead at the F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Russell and Lando Norris decided to stop for new intermediates just as the Virtual Safety Car period for Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken Haas was ending.

This dropped them behind Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly.

With the rain coming down heavily, the Safety Car was deployed before that was changed to a red flag when Franco Colapinto crashed.

The red flag allows drivers to change their tyres without making a pit stop, giving the aforementioned trio track position over Russell and Norris.

Russell had wanted to stay out - but was overruled by Mercedes.

Explaining that strategy call, trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin said: “I think with hindsight, you would manage most races differently.

“But certainly, in this case, we would have done. One of the key things is once they announced that the VSC was ending, we had a very, very short window, only a second or two, where we could have got George to stay out on track.

“The reason you would have done that is by that point, you are going to suffer a full pit loss anyway.

“You may as well stay out and just gamble on the fact that it was quite likely someone would have a crash, as happened, and that they are forced to red flag it.”

Shovlin believes pitting Russell made sense because Norris, who was just behind him in the battle for the lead, was also coming in.

“Prior to that, stopping to us made sense, because given that Lando was coming in, George was able to do that,” he added.

“He would have still been ahead of all those cars that stayed out. But you get the benefit of fresh rubber in case they do not call it as a red flag.

“Normally, we try not to assume that there is going to be a red flag, because sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong.

“If there is a safety car and you decide to stay out, assuming a red flag, if you do not get it, you are in trouble.

“But obviously, the cars that did stay out, that gamble worked for them, and they ended up in prime position.”