General
Wolff: "Verstappen's tyre strategy is extremely clever"
- GPblog.com
For Mercedes the first Saturday in Spielberg went very well. The two drivers of the team qualified on the first row of the grid and have a good chance of a good classification in the race. Although the results of the German team are good, Toto Wolff is still holding his own. Max Verstappen has an alternative strategy on the medium for Sunday and may therefore still be in danger.
"Of course I'm very happy with the starting positions for the first race of the season. The team and the car worked very well today", Wolff told Speedweek. "The important thing now is to take this result to Sunday, which is not going to be an easy task. Just looking at the result on Saturday, it probably doesn't look that difficult to do, but the tyre strategy of Verstappen is smart".
No advantage for Verstappen
"Tomorrow he will be able to ride on the medium tyres much longer at the start of the race". Mercedes has chosen to qualify just on the softs in Q2, although the strategy of Verstappen has also been considered. "We have thought about such a strategy, but we didn't expect to make it. We still believe in a one-stop strategy and then the harder band won't be very advantageous".
"Since Max missed a bit of speed in the fast lap, it was the right decision for him to ride with the medium tyre in Q2. So he has to start the race on that tyre". Another advantage of Verstappen is the temperature in Spielberg during the race. "Higher temperatures are predicted, which isn't going to help us. We have to hope for strong reliability and that our pace is good enough to stay ahead during the race," Wolff concluded.