Mercedes concedes: 'Verstappen would've won on any tire'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen's choice to start on the hard tire at the Silverstone Grand Prix last Sunday was widely praised as a masterstroke. Mercedes wasn't surprised, however, and Andrew Shovlin says in their debrief that it didn't matter much for the outcome of the race either.
"We already figured Red Bull would choose to start on the hard tire. We knew that tyre would be fast enough to get through Q2. If they thought they were going to start behind us it would give them an opportunity to do something else".
Starting on the hard tyre for Mercedes not a logical option
Although this was a danger, Mercedes decided to start the race on the medium. That tyre gives more grip in the first few laps and by choosing the hard tyre at the start of the race, you run the risk of an early safety car ruining your race. In such a case you have to ride the second stint much longer on the medium, Shovlin explains.
However, he also thinks that the choice of tyre wouldn't have mattered in the end. "We just didn't have the speed to fight. We had to drive slowly to keep the tyres in one piece. That's how they won the race. Regardless of the tire they started on, it was extremely difficult for us to win the race."