One can say this about every race where a team made a decision about strategy before a race where it did not work out in the race. How on earth does it become a plot of the team?
The rain of the previous night washed away all track evolution making the mediums behave different than in training and quali. And once Perez switched to hards Verstappen still kept up and eventually started closing the gap on hards of 20 laps younger.
How exactly did RB hang Perez out to dry here?
Simply their tyre choices meant Perez was on the losing end of it. Maybe not a plot, but I donât think they were too upset with the result.
I do agree Perez didnât take advantage earlier in the race when he was on mediums and Verstappen still running theoretically slower hards !
Thatâs pretty much the difference between the drivers. Perez should have maximised his advantage at the beginning by pulling out a bigger lead. He didnât. If Max had been on pole, he would have.
The team didnât influence that.
FWIW it boiled down to a lot more than simply their tyre choice. As you say Perez did not open a gap and it was partly due to the mediums graining against expectation. Even on brand new mediums Verstappen was closing the gap. How can one be sure that if he started on hards that Verstappen would not have simply still closed it up. How much faster wouldnât he have been able to close up the gap on new hards then? Plus there is a good chance that Alonso would have been a bigger problem for Perez then and have held him back in the first few laps also playing into Maxâs hands.
Point is there was no team intention to assist one driver over another.
I made an assumption based on the fact that thereâs an anti-Verstappen sentiment with some members, and that you seemed to suggest the team had shafter Perez deliberately, i.e. downplaying Verstappens performance. I shouldnât have assumed, I hope you can accept my apologies.
As mentioned, the same tyre choice everyone down to p8 and most behind Verstappen & Ocon made as well. Even though above I said I shouldnât assume, it should be safe to assume that most teams thought that to be the best tyre choice at the time. Also, donât teams (near the front) nearly always start on the softest of the compounds they plan to use during the race?
Unless your starting position isnât where it should be, in which case teams sometimes opt for a harder compound and hope for a safety car. Usually the riskier strategy.
And this case, Verstappen was much faster on any compound at nearly every point of the race. Only the first few laps after his pitstop was Perez setting faster laptimes IIRC.
I just donât see RB disadvantaging Perez during this Grand-Prix. RB even let them race until the end. Max actually had to pass Perez on his own for the win.
As opposed to Lewis who got team ordersâŚ
Plus @Wugged_Woy & @Kryptos
What I canât make out, or fully understand, is what input the individual driver has in their own race strategy?
Surely MV & SP arenât paid millions to sit back & do exactly what the engineers/race strategists tell them to do?
Donât quite understand the question? Especially in the context?
As I understand it, they do have input. They go through the different options with their engineers the evening before and make a choice based on that. Including alternative strategies.
During the race, the drivers of course have input, but the team has much more information about how tires work on other cars, behind whom theyâd end up after a pitstop at any particular time etc. Drivers will let the team know how their tires are doing. Then you get the âwe go plan A/B/C plus/minus Xâ radio messages.
I felt that there was an implication that Perez was put on an inferior strategy, on purpose, & had no say in the matter.
I was remarking that surely he would have had some say in the matter if he really felt it was the wrong one to be on & would have obviously disadvantaged himself compared with MVâs strategy. Likewise MV would presumably have been able to suggest an alternative strategy if he felt his was not the best for the circumstances.
Yup. That is exactly what a number of us were arguing for. Perez was definitely not knowingly disadvantaged by his team.
The most plausible explaination is that there is no limit on Max. Heâs just by far the best. Itâs almost like he knows what others are doing and he is already prepared for it and takes over.
Whether one likes that is another matter. Some more challengers would be great.
The problem for Checo was that, if he had started on hards, he risked losing track position at the start to others on the (initially faster) medium tyre. No such issue for Max as he was surrounded by inferior cars and had nothing to lose by trying to go long. Unfortunately for Checo the deg with a full tank of fuel was pretty heavy on the mediums meaning he was unable to open up a big enough lead before pitting for hards. Max getting the mediums at the end when he had much less fuel likely sealed it for him. Also, i think Checo might have made a mistake shortly before Maxâs stop as he suddenly lost about 2 seconds on the gap - although this probably wouldnât have made much of a difference in the end.
I think both drivers had the most sensible strategies for their starting positions to be honest.
Thatâs probably true. The odd thing for me was that Verstappen was getting lots of info about the gap to Perez and what he needed to do to win. Perez got nothing. But perhaps he asked to be left alone.
The radio we get is just a selection (not sure by whom). Itâs very well possible Perez was getting the same, or more information. Or that Verstappen explicitly asked for it.
Yeah, heard that mentioned. Hornerâs answer when Crofty quizzed him on it during the race didnât seem that convincing. Although, last race Checo was deliberately engaging in less radio chatter to avoid giving Max an edge - possibly same this time too. Its great to watch as Max definitely feels like he deserves special treatment but Checo has been superb so far this year which creates a political headache for Red Bull.
No the Sky team noted that there had been no info. One of their team had listened to all of the radio rather than just the selection we get.
Obviously possible that Perez asked not to be told. Although that would seem odd. From the outside it appeared that the team was more behind Verstappen but again, thatâs speculation.
Well, letâs be honest, barring disaster Checo is not going to win the WDC. He is a very good driver but he is not consistent enough and there are many races to go with many not on street circuits. Listening to the F1TV commentators he was simply not as consistent as Max in the lap times. Max was running within a very narrow margin lap after lap while Checo showed more variance. Over the race distance that makes a huger difference. The team will know this too and perhaps be giving the sure bet more support, which I do not find strange.
I canât explicitly recall who was on the radio, but wouldnât that be their engineers? Of which they have their own. Perez has his own âteamâ within RB, even if in general Verstappen is preferred to win, we can assume his own engineer would be on Perezâ side.