Sergio Perez from Mexico, who races for Red Bull Racing, made a pit stop during the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, China on April 21, 2024. The team’s boss, Christian Horner, is confident that Perez would have performed exceptionally well on a two-stop strategy if it weren’t for the Safety Car intervention. Despite dropping to third place on the first lap, Perez managed to regain second place by the fifth lap. However, after the Safety Car period, he fell behind Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, who were able to pit without losing much time. Red Bull decided to pit both their drivers simultaneously to avoid any disadvantage, but Perez found himself in fourth place after the restart. Although he managed to overtake Leclerc and secure a podium finish, he couldn’t catch up to Norris and finished the race five seconds behind him. Horner, when asked about Perez’s inability to catch Norris, explained that they had planned for an aggressive two-stop strategy. Unfortunately, the timing of the Safety Car was unfavorable for Perez as they had to make an additional stop to align their strategy with Ferrari and McLaren. This dropped Perez behind Norris and Leclerc on the track. It took him a while to overtake Leclerc, which likely affected the condition of his tires. By the time he cleared Leclerc, his tires were not in the best shape to chase down Norris, who had impressive pace throughout the race. However, Horner praised Perez for another strong weekend and securing a double podium finish. Despite the outcome, Horner firmly believes that the two-stop strategy would have been faster than the one-stop strategy. The Safety Car intervention forced them to have a very long final stint and an extra stop, which they had to take. In normal racing conditions, a two-stop strategy would have been quicker, but the timing of the Safety Car is unpredictable.
Max Verstappen made it clear that his future in Formula 1 was not influenced by money. The discussions surrounding Verstappen's future at Red Bull have been a hot...
Read more