Feeling sorry for Mercedes: 'Red Bull taking the big gambles'

Damon Hill thinks Red Bull Racing is lucky it made the right decisions at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. According to the simple world champion, the Austrian racing team could also have thrown away the world title.

In the final race of the season, it looked like Lewis Hamilton would win the world title, until Nicholas Latifi drove into the wall. What followed was a safety car, after which Red Bull decided to change Max Verstappen's tyres. It turned out to be a golden move because through the red tyre the Dutchman still managed to win.

During the weeks following the GP, Red Bull received many compliments on this decision, but Hill sees it differently. According to the former Formula One driver, Verstappen's team had all the luck in the world that the driver still had a chance to overtake Hamilton and Mercedes simply gambled wrong.

"They were the people out there taking the big gambles, Mercedes stayed conservative and unfortunately for them, they got hit with a very unexpected sudden change of mind about how they were going to restart this race," Hill explained in conversation with Sky Sports. "But, Red Bull took all the risks."