In the final of the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the offense and defense involving DRS just before the end is attracting attention, but the factor that Max Verstappen was able to actually win was the virtual safety car (VSC) just before that. F1 journalist Mark Hughes is paying attention to the later “heating of the tires”.
Max Verstappen eventually won the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but the results were questionable from start to finish.
With four laps remaining, Max Verstappen was able to get in front of Charles Leclerc, but what would the race end if the timing of the safety car right after the pit stop did not give Sergio Perez a cruel result? I don’t know.
Even at that time, the competitive Ferrari had an advantage over Red Bull.
When the pit stop window opened, Charles Leclerc narrowed the gap with Sergio Perez. Perez couldn’t get out of the undercut range without damaging the C3 tires.
The instruction Ferrari gave to Charles Leclerc was “Box to overtake”. The strategy was to do the opposite of Sergio Perez. At this point Sergio Perez’s tires were nearing the end. Therefore, Red Bull had only two choices: to pit in anticipation of Leclerc’s pitting at the same time, or to lose position in the undercut.
However, a few seconds after Sergio Perez made a pit stop, Nicholas Latifi crashed on turn 27 and the safety car was dispatched. Sergio Perez lost 21 seconds at the pit stop, but other drivers were able to change tires with a loss of 11 seconds. As a result, Perez retreated to 4th place.
With the unyielding offense and defense of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, the race was a one-on-one battle between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
And there were two very clear phases in the two-player battle. The 21st lap restart and the 36th lap VSC. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc perfectly suppressed Max Verstappen and controlled the race.
Ferrari, running more wings than Red Bull, was fast enough in Sector 1 and couldn’t get close to it within a second at turn 17, turn 22, and the detection point in the final corner.
Red Bull was fast at the straight end, but Ferrari had an advantage in acceleration. In Saudi Arabia, it was fast even in the seven corners where braking was needed. Red Bull was relatively fast on the whole lap, but Ferrari always pulled away at an important part of the track. Leclerc’s tires remained clean, which may have contributed to running in clean air.
However, Red Bull used the tires better than Bahrain and had no brake temperature issues. Max Verstappen constantly moved forward to put pressure on Leclerc.
And the stiff C2 compound changed the situation. At first, Leclerc managed his pace with long, fast sweeps of turns 6-7, 10 and 22 to give the tires a break, but not so much with Max Verstappen’s C2, which can push harder.
The gap between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen diminished depending on battery usage and perhaps mental focus. It was a long and fierce duel, but Leclerc was able to keep the difference in about 1.5 seconds.
Between laps 24 and 35, the two exchanged race fastest laps. It doesn’t seem to matter how much Max Verstappen pushed, and Charles Leclerc controlled it out of the DRS range. Up to VSC, Charles Leclerc seemed to be in control.
More important in the race was the effect of the three-lap VSC on Charles Leclerc’s tire temperature. The C2 compound was very worn. As the tread becomes thinner and the core cools, it can be very reluctant to reach optimum temperature again.
In this case, both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were able to recover the temperature faster than the previous Ferrari. Perhaps the lower downforce setting caused more slides and the tread heated faster. It broke Charles Leclerc’s ability to keep Verstappen away.
Charles Leclerc overtook Red Bull on the restart, but Max Verstappen reached the DRS detection point within the DRS range due to improved tire performance on lap two.
With this, the cat-and-mouse game centered on the DRS detection line has begun. The race culminated with repeated attacks by Max Verstappen and wise play by Charles Leclerc. The two leaders swapped positions three times in the last few laps.
Max Verstappen first entered the DRS range on lap 42 and lined up outside Charles Leclerc. However, just before the last turn, the DRS detection line on the pit straight continues. Charles Leclerc stayed calm, making sure he was just behind the line, letting Verstappen go first, then getting a DRS and pulling straight back easily.
Next time, Max Verstappen jumped inside, but decided not to reach the DRS line in front of him. But Charles Leclerc sensed this, and while Verstappen was still braking, he was ready to accelerate. Due to this reaction, Verstappen could not get close enough straight even with DRS.
It took several laps for Max Verstappen to return to the DRS range. He used the DRS zone on turn 24 to set himself up instead of pulling out. He actually turned off DRS and controlled the throttle so he could attack from behind at the line of detection points in the final corner. Then, in combination with Charles Leclerc’s oversteer, which had damaged the rear tires by then, Max Verstappen finally completed the overtake and started the 47th lap. He controlled the race with three laps remaining and was checked 0.549 seconds earlier than Leclerc.
The overall performance of Red Bull and Ferrari is equal. However, there is a difference in how to set the time. The point to pay attention to is how it will affect future circuits.
Category: Category: F1 / Red bull / Max Verstappen / F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix