Red Bull boss Christian Horner is certain Sergio Perez would have “smashed” the one-stoppers on a two-stop without the Safety Car in Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Perez had dropped back to third on the opening lap behind Fernando Alonso but recovered the place on the fifth lap and ran in second until his first pit stop on Lap 13.
However, the Mexican would end up behind both Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc when the race was neutralised and allowed that pair to pit with a reduced time loss.
Red Bull elected to ensure its two drivers would not be at a disadvantage and also boxed with a slick double stack, but Perez was now situated in fourth for the restart.
Although Perez would overtake Leclerc’s Ferrari to climb back into the rostrum places, he was unable to catch Norris’ McLaren and traipsed home five seconds behind.
Asked whether he had been surprised that Perez failed to track down Norris for second, Horner told Sky F1: “We went into the race on a reasonably aggressive two-stop.
“The Safety Car timing probably couldn’t have been worse for us, particularly for Checo [Perez], because we had to stop again to effectively converge on strategy with a Ferrari and the McLaren to the end of the race, and that dropped Checo on track position behind both Lando [Norris] and Charles [Leclerc].
“And it took him quite a bit of time to get past Charles, which probably took quite a bit out of his tyres.
“So, by the time he had cleared Charles, his tyres probably weren’t in the best of shape to hunt down Lando, who had great pace today.
“But nonetheless, another very strong weekend from Checo to get that double podium.”
Horner was adamant that Perez was on schedule to pip the one-stopping Norris without the interruption on Lap 22 to clear Valtteri Bottas’ stricken Sauber at Turn 11.
“I think the two-stop would have smashed the one-stop – the quickest way for us to run that race was on a two-stop,” Horner explained.
“Getting the Safety Car when he did, it effectively converged it onto a very long last stint and we had to take that – effectively an extra stop.
“But I think under normal racing conditions a two-stop would have been quicker, but that’s the way it works out – you just can’t predict when the Safety Cars are gonna come out.”
