Horner: 'We had to convince Verstappen during Q2 in Silverstone'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
The Red Bull Racing tactics during the qualification of the Formula 1 70th anniversary race at Silverstone gave Max Verstappen a glorious victory. Christian Horner reports that they had to convince the winner that this was an important step in their tactics.
Milton Keynes commissioned Hard compound
That Verstappen won was ultimately due to a strong qualification. The Dutchman didn't take a high starting position but managed to start with a strong tire. The analysts from Milton Keynes imposed the winning tactic on the team.
Speedweek quotes team boss Horner: "We had to believe in the tactics and we also had to convince Max. By means of various simulations we determined what the possible costs and benefits of the choice would be".
The fundamental idea behind the idea of a different tyre strategy was that the team didn't want to do the same again as last week, with the result that they had to continue chasing Mercedes in third place. Something else had to be done to be able to attack Mercedes.
Horner gambled on safety car
Initially Christian Horner had counted on a safety car situation so that Verstappen with the hard tire could make his first pit stop while the Mercedes had already made their first regular pistop. "In the end it turned out that without a safety car we were just fast enough on the hard tire."
Horner continues: "We had no guarantee it would work. We took a risk and this time that risk paid off. We were surprised several times. Not only did we not expect no one to start on the hard tire. We also didn't expect that we could drive the same pace as Mercedes with a compound harder".