F1 News
Hamilton will have to do his best to hold on to P2: 'Many with more grip'
- GPblog.com
Opinions are divided on Red Bull's aggressive strategy of starting on the soft tyre for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. According to F1 expert Peter Windsor the team has gained enough knowledge and Mercedes will have to reckon with a poor start. He explained this in his new YouTube video .
According to the analyst it is too easy to say which tyre will lead to victory. According to Windsor it will not be an easy task for Mercedes to get past Verstappen. The team will not be able to take away the lead just by waiting for the Dutchman's first pit stop.
"Red Bull have done enough homework on the soft tire to know the sort of run they can do off the line and how long that's going to last for." Indeed, the team spent a lot of time on longruns on the soft tyre during the free practice sessions, which has resulted in a lot of data being collected.
Mercedes shouldn't celebrate too soon
Windsor even foresees problems for Mercedes. "It's very easy to say: Lewis, Max is on the soft tire, he's going to stop four laps sooner than you, but that presupposes that Lewis at this point is going to be P2."
Indeed, Mercedes should not simply assume Hamilton will remain second after the start. "There are a lot of guys around him on the grid now on the soft tyre who could have more grip on the line, bearing in mind Lewis is on the dirty side of the grid," Windsor said.