Verstappen seemed to be on his way to victory in Austria until a sudden loss of pace resulted in a collision with Norris, ruining his chances.
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, revealed that concerns about the Safety Car led to the decision to ignore Max Verstappen’s request for a pit stop during the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix.
During the second stint, Verstappen appeared to be in control of the race at the Red Bull Ring, maintaining a nine-second advantage over McLaren’s Lando Norris in second place.
However, the Dutch driver began to complain about a loss of grip as he found himself among slower cars, allowing Norris to gradually close the gap.
Despite Verstappen’s insistence on making an earlier pit stop to maintain his advantage, it was informed that his stint would be extended to create a more favorable gap.
Unfortunately, the normally reliable Red Bull team made a mistake during the pit stop, resulting in a 6.5-second time and allowing Norris to closely follow Verstappen, leading to the collision at Turn 3 on lap 64.
Horner believes that, if it weren’t for the wheel gun error, Verstappen would have had a sufficient advantage to defend against Norris in the final stint, who had the advantage of fresher tires.
“The first part of the race was very good,” Horner said. “We managed to build a six-second lead in the first stint with medium tires and everything was going according to plan.
“Even with the hard tires, with cloud cover causing slightly lower temperatures, we still managed to extend our lead to eight seconds at one point.
“However, after encountering traffic, our advantage was reduced to about six and a half seconds. We made the pit stop in the same lap as McLaren, but there was a problem with the left rear wheel nut that caused a delay.
“The wheel gun had to be used twice, resulting in a loss of approximately four seconds.
“As a result, Lando was able to switch to a new set of medium tires, while Max had to continue with used tires. This tire advantage allowed Lando to close the gap, although I believe we would have been able to manage it in the final laps, as the difference in lap times was only two tenths of a second.”
Verstappen, who rejected Norris’ claim that he was moving while braking in their battle, expressed after the race that Red Bull’s overall performance had been “catastrophic”.
Horner revealed that Red Bull’s initial tactical plan was to use the hard compound twice, but the team extended Verstappen’s pit stop to protect against a Safety Car.
After being overtaken by Norris in Miami when an intervention occurred, Horner considered that the champion’s only mistake was not staying with the hard tires.
“You heard him when he just had a tough race,” argued Horner. “The strategy for us was to go into the race with medium-hard-hard tires.
“And if you look at what I think he’s referring to, it’s the moment when we stopped at the second point, the second pit stop, because we extended it to cover Norris, but while we were faster than Norris, it made sense to do so because you can be unlucky with a Safety Car, lose position on the track.
“So while we had speed compared to Lando, we were able to maintain and create a gap, sometimes tactically it makes sense to do this.
“We probably would have been better off with new medium tires instead of new hard tires, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
“But I mean, the car’s speed has been very strong this weekend. We had two poles, he led every lap of the race, the sprint race yesterday, he extended his lead in the championship. We extended our lead, I think, in the constructors’ championship. So, despite not getting the win, it wasn’t completely catastrophic.”
Verstappen’s sudden drop in pace towards the end of the race drew comparisons to the race in Imola earlier this season, but Horner denied being concerned about the recurring pattern.
“I think it was a difference in tire performance because in the first and second stints, we were absolutely fine, especially towards the end of the stint,” he explained.
“So that put Lando in the slipstream. He went off the track, received a warning flag.
“Then he went to the inside of Max and went off the track. So it was a fourth offense that went to the stewards.
“And it was likely that he would receive a penalty. And I think he knew that.”
“So the incident at Turn 3, when I looked at the replay, it seems like both drivers were equally at fault, both racing aggressively.”
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