Red Bull has revealed that examining Sergio Perez’s tyres at his pit stop inspired the race-winning call not to box Max Verstappen in Formula 1‘s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Verstappen took a huge stride towards retaining the Drivers’ title with an all-time showing that saw him surge from 17th place on the grid to prevail in the wet in Brazil.
However, the Dutchman relied on a well-timed stoppage to aid his comeback, which rewarded the drivers who hadn’t pitted under racing conditions and gained places.
Verstappen was among those as, having charged through to sixth place in the opening stages, he had ended up caught behind a pack that Yuki Tsunoda was heading.
But the Dutchman capitalised when those ahead, including championship rival Lando Norris, pitted prior to the race being red-flagged when Franco Colapinto crashed.
The intervention allowed Verstappen, now in second, to switch rubber and he utilised that to pass Esteban Ocon at Turn 1 at a later restart to complete his turnaround.
Despite admitting that certain events helped Verstappen, Red Bull boss Christian Horner has divulged that it never had an intention to pit when other teams elected to.
“We could see the weather obviously was getting horrendous,” Horner told media including Motorsport Week post-race.
“His tyres were in good shape though, and so a new set of inters versus what he had was negligible. So, we took the decision, look, let’s go long.
“Then of course, our bad luck this morning was fortune this afternoon, when the race got red-flagged and then it effectively gets neutralised.
“Thereafter, I mean, the race got running, I think, too soon. He took it easy, Ocon pulled out a lead; he was just starting to close that down.
“And then another Safety Car. And then his restart, or his braking manoeuvre into Turn 1 [on Ocon] was outstanding.”
Perez’s role in Verstappen’s Brazil F1 win uncovered
Perez, who lined up 12th, was unable to replicate his team-mate’s assault as a spin on the opening lap consigned him to trailing home one position outside the points.
But Horner has explained how Red Bull receiving the chance to assess Perez’s Intermediates when he made a pit stop held a role in the call to not bring Verstappen in.
“Again, like yesterday, he was in a queue of cars,” Horner highlighted. “At that point, there was Yuki at the front of it with Esteban and Charles [Leclerc].
“He’s in all that dirty air, but we weren’t eating up the tyres. The tyres were in good shape.
“We could see when Checo made his stop as well that the tyres were in very good shape.
“That’s why we elected not to pit for a new set of Inters and go longer, because we knew heavy rain was coming.
“You could see it absolutely pouring down behind us on the pit wall.
“It was a question of, you’re in survival mode at that point. It was surprising that a Safety Car wasn’t thrown or red-flagged earlier.”
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