Marko: "That's why Verstappen didn't go for the same strategy as Hamilton"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Mercedes beat Red Bull Racing at the Spanish Grand Prix once again due to a strong strategy. When Lewis Hamilton came in for a second stop Red Bull chose to keep Max Verstappen out and not adopt Mercedes' strategy. Helmut Marko explains why.
Verstappen led the race for a long time after overtaking Hamilton at the first corner. After the first pit stop he managed to hold on to the lead, despite a slow stop. Some time later, however, Hamilton made a second stop, after which he quickly approached Verstappen and eventually overtook him.
Red Bull unable to take advantage of new set of softs
Marko explains why Red Bull chose not to go for a second stop as well. "We lack a bit of luck, that's not on our side at the moment," he told Sky Deutschland. "We had a set of new softs, but then we would have ended up behind Bottas and had to overtake him on the track".
"When Hamilton made a second stop we knew it was over for us. Only a safety car could have given us the opportunity to take advantage of the new softs without losing too much ground," the Red Bull chief continued. He remains positive for the rest of the season though, as there is still a long way to go. "The points difference is not that big when you see how many races are still to come, but we definitely need to find some more speed in the race," concluded Marko.