F1 News
Brundle pulls apart Red Bull's sprint shootout strategy: 'Incredulous'
F1 veteran and Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle believes that Red Bull made an error with their sprint shootout strategy. Sergio Perez qualified in seventh for the sprint race, over a second off the pace of his teammate. The Mexican complained that he was blocked by Esteban Ocon's Alpine, but Brundle told Sky Sports that he believes Red Bull simply 'got it wrong' on Friday at the track which bears their name.
Sergio Perez didn't go out onto the circuit until the end of SQ3. This meant that the Mexican was stuck behind Esteban Ocon. Also, Perez had to rush his crucial out-lap, which meant his tyres were not in the right window for his first and final run. The experienced Brundle believes that Red Bull made the wrong decision on Friday. "If the team had put him out on the track much earlier, it would have saved all of that problem. They were backing it up and obviously got it wrong. I don't understand that. You'll have data. You've got the pit wall telling you. And, it was flagged up with us, and even George Russell's engineer talked to him saying, some of them are not going to make it over the line," explained Brundle, who didn't understand why Red Bull left Sergio Perez's Red Bull in the garage for just one lap.
Brundle: Red Bull's 'silly' strategy was 'incredulous'
"He had a specific issue, of course, It's all a bit silly really, isn't it? That they don't get the lap in and they leave it so late and then, even if they cross the line, it massively compromises their ability to do a good lap, because they had to push the car so hard, I find it a bit incredulous, actually, that they would wait so long." Brundle concluded. The former McLaren, Benetton and Williams driver thinks that Red Bull would've benefited from going out earlier in the session on Friday.
Sergio Perez, who has only scored eight points in the last four races, is desperately in need of a good weekend. The Mexican will be hoping to move forward in the sprint race, as a few more valuable and much-needed points are on offer for Perez. Perez was not the only driver who had to rush their out-lap. Charles Leclerc was unable to set a time in his Ferrari. The Scuderia left it late and when they did eventually decide to go out, Leclerc had to deal with mechanical gremlins in the pitlane. This meant that there was not enough time left in the session for the Monegasque to set a lap. Leclerc will start the sprint from P10 later on today.